Ancient Secrets
by SK Dark Dragon
Summary: A Millennium Item has been stolen, an owner, abducted. Yugi and his friends must face an old enemy, but what has this enemy got to do with the ancient past...?-Completed-
1. Chapter 1: The Trouble With School

Chapter 1: The Trouble With School  
  
Notes: Hi again! New story, new plot, new notes to write!  
  
"-_-;"  
  
Ok! First off, I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh! Or any of the characters from the anime or manga. I DO own, however, Amber, Taerro, and the personality I've given Bastet. ^_^  
  
"This is the sequel to "Who You Gonna Call" which is another story in our little "series."  
  
^_^ Yep. This story will try to be a bit more mysterious, and will allude to the story "Ancient Lies" a few times as well. ^^ Though you don't need to have read those stories to enjoy this one.  
  
"Anyway, here's chapter one for you all!"  
  
*********  
  
Chapter 1: The Trouble With School  
  
It was a sunny Monday morning in September, and the little birds outside in the trees twittered happily, announcing the start of the new day to all the sleepy-heads whose alarms had not woken them up.  
  
Namely, Joey Wheeler.  
  
"Aacck!" Joey yelled, jumping out of bed and flinging open one of his drawers. "Stupid alarm!"  
  
He quickly fumbled around in the drawer, flinging out T-shirts, shorts, and socks, searching for his school uniform. He finally found it, wrinkled and bunched up at the bottom of the drawer, where it had been left, forgotten, ever since school ended at the start of the summer.  
  
"Man, this is not starting out good," he mumbled, trying to flatten the blue fabric out on his desk, to no avail.  
  
The first day of school was always a rude awakening to him. Since both he and his sister, Serenity, would be going back to school, he wouldn't be able to see her every day anymore, as he had over the summer.  
  
He sighed unhappily as he glanced over at the clock.  
  
"7:46?!" he cried, yanking his uniform off the desk. "Forget the wrinkles, I gotta get out of here!"  
  
With that, he dashed out of his bedroom and into the bathroom, already trying to pull on a leg of his pants.  
  
********  
  
Yugi Motou was casually eating breakfast at the kitchen table, Yami, the spirit of the Millennium Puzzle, sitting in the seat beside him, unseen by everyone else.  
  
Yugi's mother had seen to it that he had gotten up at the right time, whether he had wanted to or not. She had also insisted on him eating a full bowl of cereal and at least one piece of toast before school.  
  
"Breakfast is the most important meal of the day," she told as he sat down at the table, bleary-eyed and sleepy, ten minutes before.  
  
"Well...at least I won't be late," he thought, standing up and grabbing his backpack off the floor. "And Tea said she'd meet me on the way to school too."  
  
"That's good," Yami said, following his partner to the door. "I hope your first day of school goes well, Yugi."  
  
Yugi smiled and nodded.  
  
"Bye mom, grandpa!" he called back to the kitchen before walking out the front door and closing it behind him.  
  
********  
  
Duke Devlin was standing by the dryer, still in his red nightshirt and black pajama pants, tapping his foot anxiously on the floor.  
  
"Hurry up!" he muttered, peering in through the glass and watching his blue uniform tumble around inside the dryer.  
  
The night before, he'd gone to bed before moving his clothes from the washer, to the dryer. Now, with only a few minutes before he'd have to leave, he was still waiting for his clothes to dry.  
  
"Are they done yet?" Amber Johnson, Duke's friend from America who was staying with him for a while as an exchange student, called from the kitchen.   
  
She was hurrying through a breakfast of frozen waffles (only partially cooked due to her impatience) and orange juice while waiting for Duke. She was not particularly happy with her uniform, however.  
  
The pink shirt and blue bow tie and skirt were not her style in any way, and she never wore knee socks. She sighed, dumping the remainder of her breakfast in the garbage can and running over to the laundry room, glancing at the clock.  
  
  
  
"Duke school starts in like, ten minutes! Just put the clothes on. They'll air out," she promised, picking up her backpack and putting it on.  
  
Duke sighed, yanked the dryer door open and pulled out his damp pants and shirt, and hurried into his room to change. A second later, he came out, adjusting his damp sleeve.  
  
"Hey, John!" he called to one of his employees who ran the shop while he was away, who was drinking coffee in the kitchen. "Be sure to get the shop open by 9:00!"  
  
"Yes Mr. Devlin," The man called in reply.  
  
Duke sighed as he picked up his bag as well, and he and Amber ran over to the door and hurried outside.  
  
The fresh sunshine seemed to be calling them to do something outside, like go to the pool, or play in the park, but no, school had to start on such a wonderful morning.  
  
Amber started to jog ahead, Duke running to catch up.  
  
"Hey, what's the hurry?" he asked, grinning at her.  
  
Amber smiled, embarrassed.  
  
"Well, I don't want to make a REALLY bad impression on the first day," she grinned with a wink.  
  
Duke winked back, and the two raced ahead toward school.  
  
********  
  
The school bell rang as the students who had been lingering in the hallways hurried into their classrooms after checking the charts outside to see which class they would be in.  
  
Yugi sighed with relief as he and Tea Gardner discovered that they, along with all of Yugi's other friends were in the same class again.  
  
"That's a good thing," Tea sighed, sitting down in the middle of the classroom, Yugi taking the seat next to her.  
  
Tea was still a bit upset about something that had happened over the summer, but tried to push that out of her mind. She didn't want to spoil the first day of school with thoughts about Bastet, the cat goddess she had befriended over the summer.  
  
"Well, it looks like nearly everyone else is here already too," she commented to Yugi.  
  
He nodded in agreement as he looked around the room.  
  
He spotted Taerro, a brainy friend with gold glasses and black hair, sitting in the desk next to Ryou Bakura. Tristan Taylor was talking to a kid next to him, whom Yugi had never met before, about the school dance that had been interrupted by the presence of a few ghosts and the Ghostbusters last Friday.  
  
Yugi looked in the back of the room, where Seto Kaiba was sitting in the back, reading a book on computers.  
  
"Why does he even bother coming to school?" Tea muttered to Yugi, also looking at Seto.  
  
Yugi shrugged.  
  
"Maybe he has to or something," he whispered back.  
  
Seto's presence in class didn't bother him. Over the summer, they'd had many adventures and Seto and his brother, Mokuba, had helped them out on more than one occasion.  
  
Although he'd probably never admit it, Yugi was sure that Seto thought of them as friends.  
  
Duke and Amber stumbled into the room and took seats in front of Yugi and Tea. They turned around so they could talk to their friends.  
  
"Hey guys!" Duke greeted them.  
  
Tea smiled.  
  
"Hi Duke, Amber," Yugi replied.  
  
Amber looked around, slightly nervous, though she'd never show it to anyone else. She'd been to the school once before, a while back in the spring, but back then she had only been a visitor. Now she was a student.  
  
The teacher rang a bell up on his desk and the class grew quiet. The last student filed in and shut the door behind them.  
  
  
  
"Hey, where's Joey?!" Yugi cried, looking around for a sign of their blonde-hared friend.  
  
"Alright now! Quiet!" the teacher called from the front of the room, rapping a pointer against the blackboard.  
  
  
  
"It's a new teacher," Tea whispered to the others. "I've never seen him around before."  
  
Yugi nodded, though he wasn't sure if this were good, or bad.  
  
"Alright! Summer is over, so it's time to bring those minds back to your job, school," the teacher announced. "I am Mr. Zalliki, your teacher. And, in turn, I'm going to call off you names and make sure everyone's here."  
  
After passing the T's, the last two names were called.  
  
"Max Uncy?"  
  
"In the house!"  
  
"and Joey Wheeler," Mr. Zalliki concluded, looking around the classroom. His eyes narrowed. "Can anyone tell me where Mr. Wheeler is?"  
  
At that moment, the door burst open and Joey, wrinkled clothes and bulging backpack and all, came running in.  
  
"Sorry I'm late, teach, my alarm clock didn't go off and I..." he began, but Mr. Zalliki tapped the blackboard again, loudly.  
  
"Detention, Wheeler, for your tardiness, and sit down in the back there in that empty sit," he barked, pointing to a seat behind Tristan.  
  
Joey opened his mouth to protest, but he caught Yugi's eye, and Yugi shook his head. So Joey sighed and trudged to the back of the room.  
  
"Yes, sir," he muttered, slumping down in his seat.  
  
  
  
Mr. Zalliki cleared his throat before continuing.  
  
"Now, this year, we're going to be studying ancient civilizations, and as a fun start to the lessons, this Thursday I'm planning a field trip to the Ancient Culture Festival in a town a few hours from here," he explained, pointing to a stack of permission slips on the desk in front of him.  
  
"Alright!" A few people cheered, glad to get a trip so soon after school started.  
  
Mr. Zalliki rapped on the board again and the class grew quiet.  
  
"Now, we'll be staying for three days, going Thursday morning, and staying in a hotel that evening. We'll be going to the festival on both Friday and Saturday, and then we'll be coming back on Sunday," he explained.   
  
"Sounds fun!" Yugi exclaimed, Yami appearing beside him.  
  
"Yes..." he agreed, wondering if the cultures studied included ancient Egypt.  
  
Seto, in the back, seemed only mildly interested. However, he was more irritated about having to leave Kaiba Corp. for three days then about the trip itself.  
  
"School is such a waste," he muttered to himself, scribbling a note in his notebook. "It's not my job; I already have one..."  
  
He sighed.  
  
"Now, I need chaperones to come on the trip as well," Mr. Zaliki announced, looking around. "Anyone willing to volunteer their parents?"  
  
A few kids snickered, but no one raised their hands. Mr. Zaliki narrowed his eyes, and they wandered over toward Tristan Taylor.  
  
"Taylor!" he barked, causing Tristan to leap to his feet.  
  
"Y...yes?!" he replied, nervously.  
  
"Ask one of your parents if they can chaperone," he instructed, making a not in his notebook.  
  
Tristan groaned, and slumped down in his seat.  
  
"Okay," he muttered, irritated.  
  
  
  
Mr. Zalini looked around at the class.  
  
"Now, you'll also be required to take a test on what you've learned at the festival, on Monday next week, after we get back," he said, handing a stack of permission slips to Tea.  
  
"Hand those out, Miss Gardner," he instructed, and she began to pass them down the rows to the students. "I want those signed and returned by tomorrow morning. Now! On with math."  
  
Duke took two sheets and handed one to Amber. She glanced down at her sheet for a moment, then gasped, the color draining out of her face. All of the characters on the paper looked like ants marching across the page. Nothing made any sense.  
  
She gulped, a bead of sweat dripping down her cheek. True, she could SPEAK Japanese, which had been enough to get by during the summer. But she had completely forgotten about the Japanese characters for writing.  
  
Nervously, she looked around, now feeling like a stranger to the class, even though her name was on the roster. Everyone else was reading the permission slip, or putting it back in their binders and pulling out the math books that had been sitting under the desks.  
  
"Something wrong, Amber?" Duke asked, noticing her fearful look.  
  
She swallowed.  
  
"I can't read this," she choked out, pointing down at her paper.  
  
Duke looked at her, wide-eyed.  
  
"You mean you can't...?" he started, and she nodded.  
  
"I forgot!" she muttered, looking down at the page. "I forgot nearly everything is written in hiragana and katakana..."  
  
Duke bit his lip and looked around the room. Luckily, no one was looking their way.  
  
"Look, I'll help you through today, and we'll deal with learning it later, okay?" he hissed, and she nodded, pulling out her math book. ("Thank goodness the numbers are the same!" she sighed with relief, turning to page 6)  
  
*********  
  
Meanwhile, Priest Seto was floating around in Domino City. Since he was a spirit, no one but Seto, Mokuba, and anyone related to ancient magic could see him, so he was safe to wander the streets at will.  
  
"Nothing out of the ordinary," he mumbled, looking around as he passed by the Black Crown (the name of Duke's game shop) and the Ghostbuster's headquarters. "Well, I guess out of the ordinary for this modern world," he corrected himself, as a little girl pushed a button on a box, and a flash of light burst out of it, aimed at a smiling couple.  
  
He shook his head, raising an eyebrow. (He had not been around very long in modern Japan.) In fact, it had only been Friday that Bastet, cat goddess of Egypt, had instructed him to monitor the Domino area.  
  
"Priest..." Came a soft voice in his head, and a few days ago, he would have spun around, looking for the source, but by now, he'd figured out it was Bastet's way of communicating from far away distances.  
  
"Yes?" The Priest replied, somewhat wearily.  
  
"Be on your guard...ancient mysteries and new dangers will present themselves once again, and you must be prepared to aid the Pharaoh and his friends," her purring voice instructed.  
  
Priest Seto's eyebrows went up.  
  
"Ancient mysteries?" he wondered, remembering how Bastet had forbidden him to mention the memory of the Pharaoh to him, insisting it be the Pharaoh's destiny to discover it on his own.  
  
"I will do my job," he promised, and the connection broke.  
  
He narrowed his eyes thoughtfully as he looked around. Bastet had also mentioned his "true abilities." Whatever that meant, he had not yet discovered. But he was determined not to let the Pharaoh down again...and also, his reincarnate, Seto Kaiba and his brother.   
  
"New dangers..." he muttered, looking around. "Ancient mysteries..."  
  
What did it all mean?  
  
********  
  
End of Chapter 1  
  
^_^; Poor Amber. She has to get cracking! That stuff is not easy to learn overnight. Trust me.  
  
"Yeah...SK tries to translate Japanese manga, and it's very difficult to keep looking back at the Kana book for translations of the characters."  
  
_ Ok, but anyway, PLEASE leave me a review, and let me know what you think. Next chapter probably up tomorrow! ^_~ 


	2. Chapter 2: Road Trip Blues

Chapter 2: Road Trip Blues  
  
Notes: ^_^ Back again for another chapter.  
  
"*blushes from compliment* Yeah...we really like writing. ^_~ But right now, we're still posting up the chapters we pre-wrote on vacation, so it's pretty easy to just open them and edit them."   
  
Anyway, here's chapter 2! And also, the manga method for memorizing the hiragana worked for me. Except for the ones they don't use very often, like the J's and P's. Now I can pretty much tell you what something written in hiragana says!  
  
"Of course, she can't tell you what it MEANS unless she has a dictionary next to her. : )"  
  
_;  
  
********  
  
Amber sighed as she spread out on her bed that evening, a pamphlet on how to write and read hiragana in front of her, along with a pad of paper, a pen, and a Japanese manga. (Duke bought it for her. He figured the best way for memorizing the Kana was to be reading something she enjoyed.)  
  
And with that, she was supposed to study all evening, at least until dinner.  
  
"This is giving me a major headache," she grumbled, practicing the hiragana for the KI sound again.  
  
"Ki + Ka + I = Kikai," she sighed. "They're talking about a machine..."  
  
She groaned, remembering how school had gone the rest of the day. Luckily, Mr. Zaliki had never found out Amber couldn't read 90% of the material handed out to her.   
  
Instead, she'd had Tea and Duke read everything to her, each taking turns so they wouldn't look suspicious. Yugi also helped by accidentally-on-purpose dropping his pencil and having to chase it across the room when the teacher was about to look their way during a mini-quiz in History.  
  
She smiled, despite the fact the first day of school had not gone as planned. At least, she thought, she knew she had reliable friends who were trying to help her out.  
  
She looked over at the clock, realizing it was already 7:15.  
  
"Yes!" she cheered, jumping off of her bed and running downstairs. "Hi Duke!" she said cheerfully, sitting down on the couch next to him.  
  
He looked up at her, surprised.  
  
"Is it already seven?" he asked, looking at his watch.   
  
She nodded.  
  
"Yep," she sighed. "I think I've done all the hiragana I can take for now," she added, putting a hand to her forehead to illustrate. "That stuff's not easy."  
  
Duke shrugged.  
  
"It's not that hard," he replied, shuffling through his own books. "Besides, Kanji is much harder. It's a character for every different word. Just be glad you don't have to know that right now."  
  
Amber gulped.  
  
"Okay," she sighed, pulling out her permission slip. "Who are we going to get to sign these?" she asked, waving it around. "One of the employees?"  
  
Duke shrugged.  
  
"We could get John to do it," he replied, looking around to see if his top employee was around. "He's SORTA like a guardian..."  
  
Amber giggled and the two ran off to find John.  
  
********  
  
Meanwhile, Joey was resting at home on the couch. He'd convinced his dad to sign his permission slip, and done about half of the math problems he'd been assigned for homework.  
  
Now, he was taking a "break" from work, as he called it, by watching a Sci-Fi movie that was playing on TV.  
  
He sighed at the silence in the house.  
  
"This would be a lot more fun with Serenity around," he thought, remembering how the two had watched movies in the evenings together over the summer.  
  
********  
  
Tea, too, had gotten her form signed, but unlike Joey, she was sitting on a swing at the park, thinking. She'd done her homework at recess while Yugi and Joey dueled each other, so she had a free evening.  
  
She looked out at the kids playing on the playground, running around and chasing each other happily.  
  
She smiled.  
  
"I hope the trip will be fun for all of us," she thought to herself, pushing back a bit and swinging forward. "We could definitely use a break."  
  
*******  
  
Seto Kaiba was sitting at his desk, typing on his laptop. He had gotten a security guard at his mansion to sign his slip, and had arranged with the teacher to have Mokuba come along as well.  
  
After recent events, he was wary about leaving Mokuba alone at the mansion, even with the security.  
  
There was a knock on his door and Mokuba bounded in, just gotten home from school. He dropped his backpack on the floor and ran over to his brother, giving him a hug.  
  
"Hi, niisama!" he said cheerfully, as Seto hugged him back. "How was your day?"  
  
"Fine," Seto replied, smiling for the first time of the day. "How about yours?"  
  
Mokuba nodded, backing up a little.  
  
"It was okay," he replied, smiling up at his brother.  
  
"Listen," Seto said, hoping Mokuba would enjoy the trip. "Would you like to come with me to an ancient cultural festival?" he asked.  
  
Mokuba's eyes brightened.  
  
"Cool!" he cheered jumping up and down. "Is it a school trip or something?"  
  
Seto nodded.  
  
"You'll have to miss a few days of school, but..." he began, but Mokuba cut in.  
  
"THAT doesn't matter!" he exclaimed, waving his hand to emphasize. "It'll be really fun!"  
  
Seto smiled again.  
  
"That's good," he replied, turning back to the computer screen. "Now, why don't you get started on your homework, okay?"  
  
Mokuba nodded brightly.  
  
"Sure!" he replied, picking up his things. "See you later, niisama!"  
  
********  
  
Priest Seto floated into Seto's room shortly after Mokuba had left.  
  
"Mokuba is certainly happy about something," he commented to Seto, causing him to jump a little.  
  
"Oh, yes, I am taking him with me on a school trip," he muttered to the priest, closing his computer file and turning around.  
  
  
  
"Where to?" Priest Seto inquired.  
  
Seto sighed.  
  
"Some ancient cultural festival. It's for history," Seto explained, glancing at the priest, who was thinking.  
  
"The Pharaoh will be going?" he asked.  
  
Seto nodded, shrugging.  
  
"Yes, Yugi and the rest of the class will be going, so I assume he'll take the Millennium Puzzle with him." he explained to him.  
  
The priest nodded slowly. Seto raised an eyebrow.  
  
"What's wrong?" he asked, looking at him suspiciously.  
  
Priest Seto narrowed his eyes.  
  
"Bastet contacted me and was talking about new dangers approaching," he replied, looking solemn.  
  
Seto sighed and nodded.  
  
"Danger is always around," he replied, standing up. "That's why I'm taking Mokuba with me. Hopefully, we won't run into anything on the trip."  
  
Priest Seto nodded.  
  
"I hope so as well," he replied.  
  
********  
  
Yugi leaned back in his chair at his desk, filling out the rest of his permission slip. Grandpa and his mother had both signed it, and he was now filling out all the information.  
  
They would be traveling Thursday morning to the Masked Hotel, and then the next two days they would spend enjoying and learning from the festival.  
  
"It sounds like it could be a really fun time, right Yami?" he asked his friend.  
  
"It could be," he replied, glancing down at the bus arrangements. "It looks like only ten students to a bus," he commented, reading the bottom line.  
  
Yugi nodded.  
  
"Maybe we could get all of our friends on the same bus," he said cheerfully, jumping up. "Then the trip would be perfect!"  
  
Yami smiled at his hikari's excitement. It was nice to see Yugi so happy about something.  
  
Suddenly, the telephone rang. Yugi leaned over and picked it up off the hook.  
  
"Hello?" he answered, hoping it was one of his friends.  
  
However, it was not his friends at all.  
  
"Hello? I'd like a medium cheese with extra sauce, and garlic breadsticks to go," Came a woman's voice, sharp and demanding.  
  
Yugi sweat-dropped. He hadn't had this kind of phone trouble since spring, and it had been horrible back then, as Yugi had needed to make phone calls to all of his friends.  
  
"Ehe...ma'am? I think you have the wrong number..." he said, embarrassed.  
  
********  
  
Thursday morning, everyone arrived at school bright and early. There were three school busses parked in the parking lot for the students in Yugi's class to take on their trip.  
  
Yugi yawned as he leaned on his suitcase, which he had packed with all his things and lugged with him on his walk to school. Tea, too, had a suitcase beside her, and she was sitting on the rim, tiredly. (Everyone going on the trip was supposed to arrive one hour before school started that mroning, so they could get an early start.)  
  
Seto Kaiba and Mokuba were both there already, and were standing by their bags as well, though, Mokuba was taking a hint from Yugi, and was leaning on his bag, half asleep.  
  
Bakura was talking to Tristan, and Taerro was standing by Duke and Amber, who was absorbed in her Kana book, reading and memorizing.  
  
"You're really trying to learn, aren't you?" Bakura commented to Amber as she sighed and sat down on the curb.  
  
Amber nodded wearily, rubbing her eyes.  
  
"I think I'm getting the hang of them," she muttered, stifling a yawn.  
  
Duke smiled.  
  
"That's good," he commented, watching the other students mill around. "Hey Yugi, have you seen Joey anywhere?" he called over to Yugi, who jerked out of a dose.  
  
"Hm? Oh, Joey...no I haven't seen him around," he sighed, blinking furiously, trying to wake up again.  
  
Tea sighed, looking around at the foggy morning air.  
  
"He's probably overslept again," she said shrugging and shifting around. She was tired of waiting.  
  
Yami appeared beside Yugi, looking around, alert. He'd just sensed something strange in the air...something dangerous...  
  
He looked around at the others. Yes, there was the high priest's spirit, floating around by a crowd of teenagers talking, but other than he, there were no other spirits around.  
  
"Hm..." he muttered as Mr. Zaliki walked out onto the blacktop, holding a sheet of paper in his hands.  
  
"All right, students!" he called, looking around at the teenagers gather on the blacktop. "Today we'll be starting on our trip to the ancient festival. Now, if there are ANY misbehaviors, the students responsible will find themselves in a VERY deep bit of trouble. And I don't want that to happen."  
  
Yugi glanced at Tea. She gulped. It sounded like he was just waiting for someone to do something out of line so he could punish them.  
  
"Hurry up, Joey," he thought, panicking a little.  
  
"Now, the busses only hold ten people apiece, so we'll have to split them up. Bus one will have a chaperone and a bus driver, bus two, a chaparone and a bus driver, and bus three will have the driver, a chaperone, and myself. Please board the busses now, in a NEAT AND ORDERLY FASHION!" he added sternly as a mad mob of students ran for buses one and two, not wanting to be stuck on bus 3 with Mr. Zaliki.  
  
Yugi and Tea tried to fight their way through the crowd, but Tristan pulled them back.  
  
"Huh?" Yugi asked, looking behind him at Tristan. "What's up?"  
  
Tristan sighed.  
  
"My dad is the chaperone on Bus three, and I've got to go with him," he groaned.  
  
Yugi sighed as well, his shoulders slacking.  
  
"Well, we'll go on bus three with you then, Tristan," he said kindly, not wanting his friends to be split up on the trip, if at all possible.  
  
"Thanks guys," Tristan muttered, slouching over to bus three where his father was boarding.  
  
It was an old activity bus, the white paint peeling off the sides, and the blue lettering worn away so that it only vaguely said, " omino Activ y Bus." Yugi and the others all walked toward it, slowly, as no one else was in any hurry to go to bus three.  
  
  
  
Seto and Mokuba, too, were heading for bus three, Seto figured he'd rather end up on the bus still intact than end up on a bus without a teacher. Besides, at least then things wouldn't be so out of hand.  
  
"Hi Yugi!" Mokuba said cheerfully, waving, waking up a bit as they boarded the bus behind Mr. Taylor.  
  
Yugi smiled vaguely.  
  
"Hi Mokuba, Kaiba," he added, addressing Seto, who only nodded in reply.  
  
  
  
The inside of the bus was dirty and worn down, the backs of some of the seats torn open, revealing the yellow foam stuffing from the inside of the seats.  
  
Mr. Taylor sat down in the front row, right behind the bus driver. Tristan hunched over and made it to the back of the bus, where he sat down and ducked his head.   
  
"Maybe he won't notice me," he mumbled, not wanting his father to ask to sit with him.  
  
Not that he had anything against him. Just that...it wasn't cool to have to sit a whole bus ride with your parent. Especially one that liked to talk about every monument they passed.  
  
Taerro and Bakura took the seat across the aisle from Tristan, stowed their bags away under the seat.  
  
"The good thing about the back is that your bags won't slide back when you go uphill," Taerro explained.  
  
Bakura nodded.  
  
"We once had a trip to the pumpkin farm back when I was younger," Bakura said with an embarrassed smile. "And everyone put theirs under the seats, and at a turn, they all slid back to the back of the bus."  
  
Taerro chuckled.  
  
"You should have just held onto them," he replied.  
  
Tristan narrowed his eyes.  
  
What was worse? Listening to his dad talk about age-old monuments, or listen to Taerro babble on about scientific theories or something equally as boring?  
  
Yugi and Tea sat in the seat in front of Taerro and Bakura, which was across the aisle from Seto and Mokuba. (Mokuba had wanted Seto to take the window seat so he could talk to the others during the trip, something which Seto had no intention of doing.)  
  
Seto was busy putting his and Mokuba's bags up overhead while Mokuba leaned over to talk to Duke, who was sitting with Amber in the seat in front of Tea and Yugi, across from Mr. Taylor, who, as it looked, was going to end up sitting with Mr. Zaliki, when he decided to get on.  
  
Tea leaned over Yugi to talk to Tristan.  
  
"Where's Joey?" she asked above the noise that was mainly coming from the students on the other buses.  
  
Tristan shrugged in reply.  
  
"Who knows? That kid is always late."  
  
Yugi sighed and leaned back in his seat. Yami was suspended in midair above him, sitting, it looked like, on the luggage rack.  
  
Priest Seto was also floating around near the luggage rack, though, on the other side of the bus.  
  
Mr. Zaliki got on the bus and counted the students' heads, coming to a total of nine.  
  
"What the..." he muttered, looking at the role. "Where's Wheeler?"  
  
"Right...here...teach!" Came a pant from behind them, and they all looked up front to see Joey, out of breath and sweating, boarding the bus.  
  
Mr. Zaliki sighed, irritably as Joey took a seat in back next to Tristan, fanning his pink face.  
  
"Okay," he said, taking a seat next to Mr. Taylor. "Now that we're all here," He paused to glare at Joey, who was too busy fanning himself to notice. "We can take off now."  
  
  
  
The bus lurched forward a little as the engine started and it took off down the road.   
  
"I haven't ridden on a bus in so long I forgot what it felt like," Yugi muttered, looking out the window at the cars below them.  
  
Tea smiled.  
  
"Yeah..." she agreed, though she couldn't place a finger on why, she just didn't feel right about this.  
  
Maybe it was because the rest of the class wasn't with them, or maybe it was just from past experiences. But something was making her feel like going on this trip was leading them into danger...  
  
********  
  
End of Chapter 2  
  
Oo, intrigue? ^_~  
  
"Erm...I guess. Or maybe it's just because of the three boys playing guns in the same room as we that's making it hard to focus." :P  
  
  
  
Ok, well anyway, leave me a review, and let me know what you think of the story. Oh, and next chapter will be up soon! ^_^ 


	3. Chapter 3: Something Strange

Chapter 3: Something Strange...  
  
Okay! We're back for chapter 3!  
  
**silence*  
  
^_^;; Okay, so maybe WE are not back. (Red has hidden in her shell and refused to come out and help. She didn't enjoy being chased around the room by Alan's Emerald Dragon.)  
  
Ehe...anyway! Thanks to everyone that read and review the previous chapters.  
  
Here comes chapter 3 and I hope you enjoy!  
  
********  
  
Chapter 3: Something Strange...  
  
"99 bottles of beer on the wall, 99 bottles of beer. You take one down and you pass it around, 98 bottles of beer on the wall," Joey sang, out of tune.  
  
"98 bottles of beer on the wall, 98 bottles of beer," Tristan began, on cue, but Mr. Zaliki turned and looked sharply at the boys.  
  
"If I hear one more word of that song they'll be some punishment to pay," he threatened, narrowing his eyes.  
  
Tristan sighed and kicked the seat in front of him.   
  
"Cut it out, Tristan," Mokuba said pushing his chair back again.  
  
Tristan slumped down further in his seat, bored. They'd been on the bus for nearly two hours, but everyone on board was already tired of the drive.  
  
Outisde, the fog from the morning still hadn't cleared, and instead, the sky seemed to be getting darker and darker, and cloudier still. Tea worriedly looked out her window when a droplet of rain streaked by and splattered against it, making the view blurry.  
  
"Oh...great!" she muttered, turning to Yugi, who had been talking to Duke, who was sitting in front of him. "It's starting to rain."  
  
Yugi sighed, as another large droplet splattered on the window.  
  
  
  
"This looks like it's going to be a huge storm," Bakura said worriedly.  
  
Taerro nodded in agreement.  
  
"I hope we can get to our location in time," he muttered, staring out the window as a downpour began.  
  
The bus swerved a little, causing Tea to fall against Yugi.  
  
"Sorry," she muttered, sitting up again.  
  
Yugi smiled, then his expression turned serious again.  
  
"Mr. Zaliki?" Duke asked, leaning forward. "Do you think we ought to pull over for a bit and wait out the storm?"   
  
Mr. Zaliki shrugged.  
  
  
  
"No, we should keep on schedule," he replied as the bus braked a little, so not to hit the black car that had just illegally passed in front of them.  
  
Seto blinked and pulled down his window, looking out after the car that was zooming ahead of them.  
  
"Put that window back up, Mr. Kaiba!" Mr. Zaliki demanded, shielding himself from the rain and wind that was blowing in through the open window.  
  
Seto ignored him and stared after the car. Priest Seto floated down toward him and leaned out the window (much further than Seto had) as well.  
  
"Something up with that car?" he asked quizzically, blinking at his reincarnate.  
  
Seto frowned, and pulled the window back up.  
  
"No...I just thought it looked familiar," he replied, lost in his thoughts.  
  
Had it only been his overactive imagination, or did that vehicle look quite similar to one of the ones the criminal group had used last week?  
  
"What's wrong, niisama?" Mokuba asked, worriedly looking up at his older brother.  
  
Seto shook his head and forced a smile as he looked down at Mokuba.  
  
"No, nothing's wrong," he replied quickly. "I just thought I saw someone I knew."   
  
Which wasn't a lie.  
  
The rain was now beating down harder and harder, and the driver had turned on the windshield wipers on full speed to keep a clear view for himself.  
  
"Quiet down!" he yelled hoarsely, even though only Yugi and Duke had been talking.  
  
They immediately fell silent, however.  
  
"Oo, I really think we ought to pull over," Tea said, worriedly, pulling up her window as well, making the bus become rather hot and sticky feeling.  
  
"These are country roads," Mr. Taylor reassured her. "There's hardly anyone out here."  
  
Tristan looked out the back window.  
  
"Well, there's a black car behind us," he muttered. "And there was a car just in front of us..."  
  
Mr. Taylor sighed.  
  
"Well USUALLY there's no one out here," he corrected himself.  
  
The bus swerved again as the driver squinted out the window at the fork in the road.  
  
"Okay...it's New Eastland Avenue..." he muttered, looking out the window and peering at the signs.  
  
"Ah, New Eastland," he muttered, seeing a blurry sign and taking a sharp turn left, a few feet behind the black car.  
  
The road became slightly bumpy as they storm grew slightly worse. Rain beat down so hard on the roof that everyone inside were beginning to feel as though they were in a tin can and someone was pouring beans or rocks on top of it, causing it to clink.  
  
"Are...we...there yet?" Amber asked, as the bus bumped up and down.  
  
The bus driver didn't reply for a moment.  
  
"Yeah...we should be there in about twenty minutes down New Eastland avenue..." he muttered looking around for a sign of a city.  
  
However, after twenty minutes of steady driving down the bumpy roads in the storm, which was steadily growing worse, they had come across no sign of a town at all.  
  
They had spotted three large houses in the entire time down the road, and were now approaching a fourth, and rather large one, although the rain was now falling so heavily that the driver was going at practically a snail's pace behind the black car.  
  
Seto was still keeping an eye on the black car, and noticed the door open and the slam shut again on the right side.  
  
"What the..." he muttered, as the bus continued forward, slowly.  
  
He stood up, about to say something, when there was suddenly a horrible popping and hissing noise, and the whole right said of the bus dipped down in the front, and the bus swerved over to the side of the road, wheeling out of control.  
  
Tea and Amber screamed and Seto was knocked off his feet, toppling into Mokuba. Mr. Taylor and Zaliki fell out of the their seats and into Duke and Amber, smashing them up against the window.  
  
"We're going to flip over!" Tea cried, standing up.  
  
"No we're not!" Joey yelled, falling over and into Bakura, flattening him against Taerro.  
  
"Get off me, Joey!" he cried, wiggling around as the bus lurched to a stop on the wet grass, still tilted in the front.  
  
Tea sighed with relief as she helped Yugi, who had been knocked to the ground, to his feet again. Seto and Mokuba had gotten back to their feet, and Mr. Taylor and Zaliki got off of Duke and Amber.  
  
"What happened?!" Tristan cried, walking out into the aisle.  
  
Mr. Taylor rubbed his glassed off, and looked up at the driver, who looked quite shaken.  
  
"I...don't know," he replied, walking toward the driver. "Can you open the doors up so we can see what happened?" he asked, the rain still beating down on the bus.  
  
"Sure," the driver replied nervously, and the bus doors opened, letting rain blow into the vehicle again.  
  
"Ack!" Duke cried, shielding his face as Mr. Taylor and Mr. Zaliki, followed by the driver, got off the bus and into the storm.  
  
Lightning struck overhead as Mr. Taylor bent down beside the front wheel, which was completely flat and empty of air. Tea shivered from inside the bus as she looked outside.  
  
"Someone could get struck by lightning out there," she muttered, worriedly.  
  
Outside, Mr. Taylor wiped water off his glasses as he looked closer at the wheel.  
  
"Did we have a blowout?" Mr. Zaliki asked, brushing his sopping dark hair out of his eyes.  
  
The driver leaned down next to Mr. Taylor.  
  
"I...don't think so," he replied, examining the front of the tire.  
  
"What happened then?!" Mr. Zaliki demanded as Duke and Yugi leaned out of the bus and listened to the conversation.   
  
Yami and Priest Seto were also listening from above the group of adults talk below.  
  
"It looks like we ran over something incredibly sharp..." the driver muttered, examining the huge gash in the tire. "It sliced clean through the tire and the inner tube!"  
  
Mr. Taylor gasped.  
  
"Oh my! A broken bottle, perhaps?" he guessed as a crack of thunder broke overhead.  
  
Mr. Zaliki looked around, spotting the house that was only 20 feet from where the bus had crash-landed on the lawn. Considering the house's size, the lawn they were on was probably part of the property as well.  
  
"Maybe we could ask the people at that house for a spare tire," Duke suggested from the bus door as he hung onto the railing and halfway out the door.  
  
The adults looked up.  
  
"For a bus?" Mr. Taylor asked, raising an eyebrow.  
  
"Oh yeah..." Duke replied, sighing.  
  
"And you get back in the bus," Mr. Zaliki snapped, walking over to the door.  
  
Duke and Yugi scrambled back inside and nearly ran into Seto, who was standing in the aisle, looking angry.  
  
"What's up with you?" Duke asked as Mr. Zaliki boarded the bus again.  
  
"The black car in front of us..." Seto muttered, looking out the window. "The door opened and shut again. I bet they threw something out into the road that popped the tire."  
  
Mr. Zaliki huffed, pulling the map out of the glove compartment.  
  
"That's ridiculous," he scoffed, examining the map.  
  
"Oh!" he cried, slapping his forehead angrily. "The driver took New Easland DRIVE and not avenue!"  
  
  
  
Muttering something under his breath, he slammed the map back into the compartment.  
  
"So we're in the middle of nowhere and the bus is broken?" Mokuba exclaimed, worriedly, as he looked out from his seat at the group up front of the bus.  
  
"...AND you're trespassing on private property!" Came a sharp voice from outside the door, and Seto, Yugi, Duke, and Mr. Zaliki looked out the door to see two security guards with their guns out and pointing them at Mr. Taylor and the driver.  
  
Tea's eyes widened in fear.  
  
"What in the world are those?" Priest Seto wondered out loud, looking at the guns.  
  
"Consider it a type of arrow," Yami replied coldly, returning to Yugi and taking over his body to protect him.  
  
"But...our bus just broke down and we're we on our way to a festival up north and we...uh..." Mr. Taylor attempting to use as an excuse, but trailed off, realizing he was only making things sounds worse.  
  
The darker-hared security guard glaring out at them from under his hat.  
  
"You'll have to explain yourselves to the madam," he replied sharply, gesturing for everyone to get off the bus.  
  
Slowly, starting with Mr. Zaliki and Yami, the gang filed off the bus and out into the storming whether outside.  
  
"Now let's go!" The second guard said gruffly, leading the way back to the house, the first guard taking position at the back.  
  
"But sirs, you've misunderstood," Mr. Zaliki attempted to explain. "Our bus, it broke down on our way..."  
  
"Save your explanations for the owner of this property," The second man replied, shoving Bakura forward roughly.  
  
"Hey!" Bakura cried, slipping on the wet lawn and falling into Joey.  
  
"Watch it!" Joey snapped at the guard, but fell silent when the guard raised the gun once more. "Ehe...yeah..." he finished, turning around and yanking Bakura in front of him.  
  
"This is absurd," Seto muttered, holding Mokuba's wet hand tightly, not wanting him to be left behind.  
  
Mokuba nodded, shivering in the cold wind.  
  
"Niisama? Why do they think we're trespassing?" he asked, his voice small and meek.  
  
Seto sighed.  
  
"Who knows?" he replied, narrowing his eyes.  
  
What he was more concerned about was the car in front of them. Had it deliberately thrown something in the road to stall the bus? And had they been the same group from before...  
  
Priest Seto floated down next to Seto and Mokuba, also looking distracted.  
  
"I think that car was the cause as well," he replied, looking over at Seto.  
  
Seto huffed.  
  
"Well, at least I have one person on my side," he replied, irritated at being treated like a thief, or a criminal by the security guards.  
  
Didn't they recognize him?  
  
Seto heaved a sigh as they approached the large, (though not as large as the Kaiba Mansion) house and walked up the stone steps.  
  
There was no railing to the stone steps, but instead, were two large and finely made lion statues, both shaped in a pose with their left paw up and mouth open in a roar, revealing their razor sharp teeth, one on either of the stairs.  
  
"In the house," The first guard instructed, opening the red double doors and leading the troop of sopping students and chaperones into the building.  
  
Inside, it looked as though they had walked into a history museum. The lighting was dim and there were large vases and oak tables holding oddly shaped statues and bronze figures.  
  
  
  
Many interesting portraits of various people hung on the wall, several of them looking quite Egyptian, Yami observed.  
  
"Familiar..." Priest Seto added, studying a portrait of a woman in a pink dress.  
  
The others looked around in awe.  
  
"Man...whoever owns the place sure likes their old stuff," Joey observed looking around.  
  
The second security guard glared him.  
  
"Do not insult the madam," he boomed, towering over Joey by at least 5 inches.  
  
Joey giggled, nervously.  
  
"Ehe...I meant that in a good way," he muttered, going back to looking around at the antiques.  
  
"Yami...some of these artifacts seem very familiar," Yugi commented to his spiritual friend, looking a few bird statues.  
  
Yami nodded in agreement.  
  
"True," he replied, looking around at the tall ceiling in the hallway, and long set of glamorous-looking, royal blue stairs.  
  
"I'm beginning to get a feeling of déjà vu as well," Bakura commented, squinting around at a large crystal orb.  
  
Seto narrowed his eyes.  
  
"It's like that woman's house back on that island..." he muttered, remembering a similar house during a visit to an island.  
  
He turned around, when suddenly, there came a gasp from the end of the long hallway, and everyone looked up.  
  
"Why, it's you!" Came a woman's voice, and everyone gasped as well.  
  
********  
  
End of Chapter 3  
  
Any guesses on who this mysterious new lady is?  
  
^_~ It's quite obvious, though.  
  
Anyway, PLEASE review, and the next chapter will be up soon! 


	4. Chapter 4: We Meet Again!

Chapter 4: We Meet Again!  
  
Notes: For anyone who said "Madam Christina," you're right! (See "The Right Prize for the Right Person" or "The Darker Power" for more about her ^_~)  
  
"Yep, SK wanted to bring that old bird back into the story. :P"  
  
Ah, so you've come out of your shell...^_~  
  
" Yes I have. I'll miss the whole story if I don't."  
  
^_^  
  
********  
  
Chapter 4: We Meet Again!  
  
"Why it's you!" An older woman gasped from the end of the hallway.  
  
"It's...it's..." Yugi stammered, looking at the woman.  
  
She was wearing a silky, light blue dress and a garnet pendant around her neck, slightly similar to the amber pendant Amber always wore around her neck. She was wearing high-heeled shoes and her silver hair was piled up in a bun on top of her head.  
  
"Madam Christina!" Tea cried, putting her wet hand to her mouth in surprise.  
  
Madam Christina smiled.  
  
"Why it's you, Yugi!" she cried, hurrying toward him.  
  
  
  
The security guards looked astounded, as did the bus driver, Mr. Taylor, and Mr. Zaliki.  
  
Yugi grinned, embarrassed, as she gave him a small hug before studying he and his friends.  
  
"My, my, what are you doing out here? And sopping wet too..." she began, turning to her guards.  
  
"Bob? Jim?" she asked.  
  
The taller one with darker hair, Bob, slumped down a little.  
  
"Um...they were on the front lawn and I thought that they were...uh...trespassing," he stammered. "I had no idea they were friends of yours."  
  
Madam Christina laughed.  
  
"Of course they're friends of mine," she said, looking at them. "But what are you doing out on this side of the country?"  
  
She looked from Yugi, to Tea, to Seto and then to Mr. Zaliki.  
  
"Yugi...you know this woman?" he asked hoarsely.  
  
Yugi nodded, still smiling.  
  
"Yes, we met her over the summer," he explained, then he turned back to Madam Christina. "We were on a field trip to the Ancient Cultural Festival, but we took a wrong turn down this road and then our bus got a flat tire."  
  
Madam Christina nodded, looking happy.  
  
"Well! It just so happens I'm going to that same festival," she said with a smile, looking behind the group, as if expecting to see someone else standing behind them. "They asked me to come and show off some of my older pieces."  
  
Another crack of thunder boomed outside, and the lights flickered for a moment.  
  
"Where are your things?" she asked quizzically, looking from one to another.  
  
Amber snapped her fingers.  
  
"Oh yeah...we left them in the bus when the security came and got us," she replied, pointing toward the door.  
  
Madam Christina clapped her hands together happily.  
  
  
  
"Well then, you MUST stay for the night. I don't have many visitors, you know. Well, considering I just moved her a week ago..." she babbled, pointing to Bob and Jim. "Go get their things, will you boys?" she asked kindly, walking up the blue stairs and beckoning for the others to follow.  
  
"But...but what about the trip? The festival?" Mr. Zaliki asked, horrified.  
  
Madam Christina laughed.  
  
"No need to worry," she giggled, as Yugi, Tea, Duke, and Amber started up the stairs after her. "I'm heading up to the festival on Saturday morning, so you can come along with me then."  
  
Yugi grinned.  
  
"That'll be fun," Taerro commented. "And in the meantime, we can look at the artifacts you have here!"  
  
Madam Christina nodded.  
  
  
  
"Okay now! Up the stairs! I'll show you to your living quarters," she announced, Bakura and Taerro pausing when they reached the step.  
  
"But...won't we drip on your..." Bakura began, but Madam Christina waved her hand carelessly.  
  
"This carpet needs some wear and tear, dear boy," she replied, starting up the stairs.  
  
Bakura shrugged and the others followed.  
  
"Well one thing's for sure," Joey muttered to Yugi as they began their way up the stairs.  
  
"What's that, Joey?"  
  
Joey grinned.  
  
"I prefer the eccentric Madam Christina to the psycho, evil one," he snickered.  
  
Yugi rolled his eyes with a smile.  
  
"Joey," he muttered, shaking his head.  
  
*********  
  
Bob and Jim walked outside through the sheets of pouring rain once more, back over to the tilted bus.  
  
"Our first mission on the job, and we end up roughing up her friends," Bob sighed, carefully pulling Amber and Duke's suitcases off of the top rack over the seats. "I can't believe how stupid that was."  
  
Jim shrugged.  
  
"How were we supposed to know?" he grumbled, tossing Joey and Tristan's bags to the floor with much less care than Bob had with Amber and Duke's.  
  
There was a crunch from one of the bags, and Bob looked up, startled.  
  
"Be careful!" he cried, adding Joey's bag to his load. "We don't want to accidentally break something of the madam's friends."  
  
Jim rolled his eyes and leaned out the door of the bus and into the rain. There was a black car parked in the distance on the side of the road. Jim lifted his hand up, as if to wave the rain out of the way.  
  
"What are you doing?" Bob asked, looking up front. "I need some help with these last few bags."  
  
"Oh, yeah...sure," Jim replied, still looking back as he wandered back to help Bob with the luggage again.  
  
*********  
  
Madam Christina opened the door to a large bedroom with two beds, both neatly made with blue patterned comforters and fluffy, sea-green pillows. The curtains were also sea-green, and the carpet was a fluffy light-blue color.  
  
"Wow," Tea breathed, walking in a little bit.  
  
Madam Christina smiled.  
  
"You two ladies can stay here," she said kindly, and Amber and Tea both smiled broadly.  
  
  
  
"Cool," Amber commented, ringing out the tips of her hair. "Thanks!"  
  
Tea nodded in agreement.  
  
  
  
"Yeah...it's beautiful," she added.  
  
"I'll show the boys to their rooms," Madam Christina said as Yugi and Duke waved to the girls. "Bob and Jim should have your things upstairs in a few minutes so you can change into something dry."  
  
Amber nodded with a wink as the rest of the gang walked down the hallway to other rooms.  
  
Amber sighed and slipped off her wet tennis sneakers, and put them over by the window, which, like the bus's, were also water stained from the rain, which was continuing to pour down outside.  
  
"Kinda funny how things work out," Amber said, turning to Tea, who was shivering because the house was so air-conditioned. "Hm?"  
  
Tea nodded.  
  
  
  
"I'd never have expected to break down, almost get arrested practically, and then run into an old friend," she said through her chattering teeth as she tenderly sat down on a highly polished, wooden chair.  
  
Beside the chair was an old bedside table, and on it, was an old album of some sort. Curious, Tea picked it up as Amber pulled off her pendant and wiped the water off of it, getting it shiny again.  
  
Tea flipped open the first page and saw a few shots of a younger-looking Madam Christina and what looked like could be her mother and father, judging from the notes below the picture.  
  
Her mother was darker skinned with black hair, and her father was lighter-skinned with blonde hair, much like Madam Christina in the photo.  
  
"Hm, she must have lived all over the place," Tea observed, flipping through the pages.   
  
She stopped by one and narrowed her eyes, confused. The photograph showed a very young Madam Christina in front of a pyramid, with an even younger man beside her. But for some reason, the young man looked very familiar...like some she had seen before...  
  
"Is something wrong, Tea?" Amber asked, raising an eyebrow as she noticed Tea's frown.  
  
Tea looked up, startled.  
  
"Oh, no," she replied, her eyes wandering back down to the caption of the picture. "Just...the person in the picture looks vaguely familiar...though I can't place where I've seen him."  
  
Amber tilted her head and walked over to look at the picture herself. She shrugged after a moment as Bob walked in, holding their two suitcases.  
  
  
  
"Your baggage, misses," he announced, putting them down at the door.  
  
"Uh...thanks!" Amber called after him as he left, almost as soon as he had come in.  
  
She cleared her throat and looked back down at the photo.  
  
"I don't remember that man at all," she replied, still staring down at him. "Maybe you saw him in Egypt when we were there over the summer."  
  
Tea sighed and looked hard at the photo again.  
  
"Maybe..." she replied.  
  
*********  
  
Meanwhile, Yugi, Joey, and Duke had gotten a room together, while Taerro, Bakura, and Tristan took another. Seto and Mokuba got a room togeter, and Mr. Taylor, Mr. Zaliki, and the driver each got a smaller room to themselves.  
  
"There are so many rooms in this place," Joey exclaimed as he pulled on a dry shirt. (Which was just as wrinkled as his uniform.) "It must be easy to get lost."  
  
Yugi nodded.  
  
"I wonder why Madam Christina decided to move away from her island," he wondered out loud.  
  
Duke shrugged, adjusting his dice earring in the mirror as another crack of thunder struck outside.  
  
"Maybe she was tired of being in the tropical zone or something," he mumbled, making sure it was straight.  
  
Joey snickered.  
  
"And this storm is tropical enough?" he chuckled, flopping down on one of the three beds in the room.  
  
Yugi stared out the window.  
  
"I'm still curious as to if Kaiba was right about the car in front of us," he said, his voice solemn and worried. "What if we're all in danger, and are putting Madam Christina in danger as well?"  
  
Joey waved his hand in the same manner as Madam Christina.  
  
"Forget about it!" he said lying on his back and staring up at the ceiling. "Look, think about it this way: just enjoy the fact that we ain't in some stiff hotel and forced to follow of these rules. Mr. Zaliki will have to bend some because this is Madam Christina's place."  
  
He winked and Duke laughed as he looked down at his watch.  
  
"Man, it's almost 3:30, and the lady wanted us downstairs for lunch by then," he explained, walking over to the door. "Unless, that is, no one's hungry," he added, with a twinkle in his eyes.  
  
Joey leapt off the bed, nearly toppling into Yugi.   
  
"Who's not hungry?!" he demanded, flinging the door open. "Let's go!"  
  
Yugi smiled tiredly.  
  
"Nothing keeps Joey from a meal," he said with a sigh to Yami, who was floating beside him.  
  
  
  
Yami chuckled.  
  
"I suppose you are right, aibou," he replied.  
  
*********  
  
Seto pulled on a dry jacket as Mokuba fished through his suitcase for his Game Boy.  
  
"It's kind cool that we actually knew the person who owns this place, ne, niisama?" he asked, finding his game, but not the player.  
  
Seto nodded.  
  
"Cool, I suppose," he replied, putting back on his card locket pendant. (Mokuba's had been found in the thieves', who had kidnapped him, warehouse room by the police and was returned to him the next morning, to his immense relief.)  
  
Priest Seto examined a painting on the white wall of their room.  
  
"The woman...seems oddly familiar to me," he commented. "Like I've...seen her or heard her before. Like one of the people you know by face, but not by name."  
  
Seto raised an eyebrow as he turned to the spirit, who was hovering a few feet above him.  
  
"When would you have had time to meet her?" Seto asked, suspiciously.  
  
Priest Seto's serious look did not fade.  
  
"It's almost as if I'd seen her years and years ago...when I had been alive..."  
  
Seto shook his head.  
  
"That's ridiculous," he replied, stowing his silver briefcase in a corner of the room, beside the bed and the air vent.  
  
Priest Seto's eyes lit up as Mokuba looked from his brother, to the ancient spirit.  
  
"Unless..." he muttered. "Unless it was her incarnate I knew..."  
  
Seto sighed and sat down on a chair, looking for a place to plug in his laptop. He was more concerned with the black car and its inhabitants than he was with whether or not Madam Christina's incarnate had been a friend of Priest Seto's.  
  
"Something tells me these ancient mysteries and dangers are definitely approaching," Priest Seto concluded, Mokuba's eyes wide. "It's as if I can sense something evil..."  
  
Seto stood up.  
  
"I think you're right about one thing," he said as he walked over to the door of the room and pulled it open.  
  
"Hm?" Priest Seto asked, raising an eyebrow.  
  
"Things could very well get dangerous," he said seriously, beckoning Mokuba to follow him. "Come on, Mokuba."  
  
Mokuba nodded, still worried-looking.  
  
"What's going on, niisama?" Mokuba asked, concerned.  
  
Seto heaved sigh as the two brother's walked down the hall together.  
  
"I wish I knew Mokuba," he replied. "I wish I knew."  
  
********  
  
End of Chapter 4  
  
Review! Review! And by the way, REVIEW!  
  
"And more excitement in chapter 5 coming soon!" ^_~ 


	5. Chapter 5: Ancient Secrets

Chapter 5: Ancient Secrets  
  
Notes: Yes, Joey could do with a better alarm clock, and Yugi's phone, well, that may never get fixed. ^_^;  
  
"Hee hee"  
  
Taerro...hm...give me another chapter to give him a last name. ^^;; And that criminal gang IS back, but are they really stalking the gang?  
  
"Hm, Seto giving Priest Seto the cold shoulder? Well, I just figured that Seto is kinda reluctant to get advice from people, so he's probably not going to listen to his ancient self all the time. :P"  
  
Oh, and technically, I'm sure the name is supposed to be Rishido, as there is no L in the Japanese language, but I'm so used to writing it was an L, I may just continue that way.  
  
"^_~"  
  
  
  
Anyway, here comes chapter 5!  
  
*********  
  
Chapter 5: Ancient Secrets  
  
Ishizu Ishtar walked down the streets of an Egyptian village, distracted by her own thoughts. It had been nearly two weeks since she, her brother Malik, and Lishido, had returned to Egypt after their visit to Domino.  
  
Ishizu had always been one to sense things in the future, even without her Millennium Necklace, which she had returned to the Pharaoh during Battle City, but lately, she'd been sensing something mysterious looming over the fates of Yugi and his friends.  
  
Not necessarily evil, though, which was unusual. Just mysterious...and it all seemed to cloud around the nameless Pharaoh's memory. And then there was another slight imbalance that she was feeling...as if the Millennium Destiny was some how...changing.  
  
As Ishizu crossed a nearly empty street, she sighed. She knew Malik and Lishido were understanding, and would listen to her theories, but just talking about them did no good for anyone.  
  
However, it seemed senseless to journey all the way back to Domino again, so soon after their arrival back in Egypt.  
  
  
  
She looked up at the pale blue and cloudless Egyptian sky.  
  
"Something is amiss," she concluded to herself, watching a stray cat run across the street. "I can tell."  
  
********  
  
Bakura sat in his bedroom, alone. Tristan and Taerro had run down to join the others and Madam Christina for lunch, but Bakura had just wanted some time to himself.  
  
To think...  
  
Bakura stared down at his golden Millennium Ring, which he had in his lap, the pointers falling over his knees, with his large, brown eyes. Bakura shivered at the sight of it.   
  
Why was it that no matter what, the evil spirit in the ring had access to him. It was as if he were only a pawn, and the spirit the player, enabling him to do whatever he wanted...whenever he wanted.  
  
"Yugi told me the evil spirit got out at the dance when I was with that girl," he muttered to himself, swallowing hard. "And he had to help me out again. But even Yugi couldn't get rid of him completely..."  
  
Bakura squeezed his eyes shut, thinking hard about what to do.  
  
"Maybe..." he thought, as the lights flickered again and the lightning struck outside. "Maybe I can give the ring to Yugi. If I give it to him, maybe I can at least be free of the spirit for good."  
  
Bakura opened his eyes and nodded determinedly. He stood up and started for the door, Millennium Ring in hand, when suddenly, the ring light up wildly, and a voice began to speak to him in his mind.  
  
"Foolish mortal..."  
  
Bakura's eyes widened in terror.  
  
"No!" he cried, dropping the ring and backing up against the door.  
  
The ring continued to glow as the voice in his mind spoke to him.  
  
"You fool, you cannot escape me," Yami Bakura muttered, possessing Bakura. "You will never escape me. I only let you alone because it is difficult to play your role as a wimp."  
  
Bakura was too frightened to be angry.  
  
"Now...now you will have to live under my control...until I can fulfill my destiny!" Yami Bakura roared, and took over Bakura completely.  
  
He picked up the Millennium Ring from the fluffy carpet, cackling.  
  
"Well, the fool actually thought of something remotely intelligent," Yami Bakura sneered, hanging the ring around his neck, back under his sweater.  
  
Then he grinned a wild grin.  
  
"Time to continue with my plan..."  
  
*********  
  
Down in the dining room, the long table was nearly filled with all of the guests sitting down to lunch. Madam Christina had the seat at the front end, Tea and Yugi on either side of her. Seto and Mokuba were sitting next to Tea, and beside them was Duke and Amber, and Mr. Taylor.  
  
On the other side, Joey, Tristan, Mr. Zaliki, the driver, and Taerro were sitting beside Yugi.  
  
"Miss Christina," Mr. Zaliki said professionally. "Thank you very much for allowing us to stay in your home."  
  
Madam Christina smiled.  
  
"No need to thank me," she replied. "I owe these kids a favor for helping me out over the summer."  
  
"Oh," Mr. Zaliki replied, wondering what Yugi had helped her with.  
  
Joey was busy filling his plate while the others talked amongst themselves. Tea, however, was still quiet, picking at her food even though she was quite hungry.  
  
"So..." Yugi said, putting down his drink and turning to Madam Christina. "What caused you to move here?"  
  
Madam Christina chuckled.  
  
"Well, I was a little bored with not being in communication with a lot of others," she explained, putting down her fork and looking at the others. "I'm not one for being isolated."  
  
Yugi nodded and Madam Christina sighed, looking up at the ceiling.  
  
"Yes...I was pretty lucky to end up with not being isolated from people," she muttered, almost to herself. "You see, my mother's side of the family, which is Egyptian blood, by the way, had been watching over a certain item that my ancestor had volunteered to protect from evil, or something like that as the story goes."  
  
Yugi and Tea were now paying rapt attention to what was being said. Priest Seto and Yami, too, were both listening attentively, floating around in the air above them, only seen by half of the people dining, however.  
  
"My mother was the eldest daughter in her family of all girls, so she was the next protector," Madam Christina continued. "For years, she spent her life in Egypt, until she met my father, an archiologist."  
  
"This could explain about the pictures I found...and the familiar man..." Tea thought to herself, eyes wide.  
  
"Well anyway, I was the only child for many, many years in my family," Madam Christina said. "But when I was 16, my little brother was born. So, fortunately for me, he was the one to continue on the line of protectors. It fit, anyway, as he looked much more Egyptian than I. I took after my father...in many ways."  
  
"When I was older, I decided to become a sort of collector, and I moved away from Egypt after going on a few digs. Several of my pieces found on those digs I gave to Miss Ishtar," she said, remembering how she'd given Ishizu a few Egyptian pieces.  
  
Yugi grinned.  
  
"We remember that VERY well," Taerro said with a grin.  
  
Madam Christina suddenly grinned sheepishly.  
  
"Oh, I'm sorry! I'm sure none of you want to hear about my life's history," she laughed, waving her hand.  
  
Tea shook her head quickly.  
  
"No, no! It's very interesting," she replied with a smile, hoping to discover the secret of the man in the photograph. "But...I was looking through an album of yours...and noticed a man next to you in a photo..."  
  
Madam Christina tilted her head.  
  
"My brother?" she asked.  
  
Tea nodded.  
  
"But he looked...so familiar," she continued, hoping to figure out where she had seen him before. "I feel like I've seen him before."  
  
Madam Christina chuckled.  
  
"Shadi is one person when once you've met him, you'll never forget him," she chuckled, but Yugi gasped.  
  
Yami's eyes went wide, as did Priest Seto's.  
  
"Shadi has a reincarnate as well?!" Priest Seto exclaimed, however, that was not what shocked Yami.  
  
His mind was spinning now.  
  
"Shadi...is Madam Christina's brother?" he wondered. "And the item they are referring to must be the Millennium Key!"  
  
********  
  
Outside, in one of the black vehicles, a tall and slender woman wearing a navy officer's uniform was sitting in one of the high-class leather-covered seats.  
  
"So...we doing this place first?" she asked a man sitting in the front, as she picked at her highly polished nails.  
  
The man up front nodded.  
  
"Yeah...the lady is loaded with stuff that'd sell for a fortune," he replied. "And she only just moved in last week, so the security is low."  
  
The woman raised her eyebrows.  
  
"How low?"  
  
The man in front grinned.  
  
"Two," he chuckled. "And you know what that means..."  
  
The woman grinned.  
  
"Oh yes..." she chuckled as she looked out the window at the house. "It's time to make our move."  
  
The man up front nodded, pulling something shiny out of his pocket.  
  
"That's right...Stella."  
  
Another crack of thunder boomed outside, with lightning right before it.  
  
"Inform the others," Stella ordered, her voice soft and evil.  
  
********  
  
"Shadi..." Yugi muttered, looking down at his plate.  
  
Madam Christina's eyebrows went up.  
  
"Do you know my brother?" she asked, curiously.  
  
Yugi nodded.  
  
"I met him twice. Once, back at Pegasus's castle. The second time, on the Battle Ship. He is the keeper of the Millennium Key," Yugi replied.  
  
Madam Christina nodded.  
  
"I knew that thing had a name," she chuckled.  
  
Bob and Jim were now clearing plates as the adults stared wide-eyed at Yugi, Tea, and Madam Christina.  
  
"That's funny that you should know him. In fact, Shadi should be paying me a visit one of these days soon," Madam Christina said to Yugi and the others. "We haven't seen each other in years and years, so he said he'd come visit me this week. Not for long, of course," she sighed. "But it will be nice to see him again."  
  
Yugi nodded, still soaking in the shock that Madam Christina was related to one of the Millennium Item owners. Priest Seto was thinking.  
  
"That adds up to five reincarnates: Seto Kaiba, Yugi Motou, Ishizu...I think her name was, Bakura, and Shadi," he muttered to himself. "And five of the Millennium Items. But where are the remaining two...?"  
  
Taerro looked around.  
  
"Hey, where's Bakura?" he asked, seeing an empty chair. "I thought he said he'd be down in a few minutes..."  
  
Tristan stood up.  
  
"Maybe he lost track of time?" he guessed, walking over to Taerro. "We could go check."  
  
Taerro nodded.  
  
"Thanks for lunch!" Taerro called back to Madam Christina as he and Tristan trooped up the stairs.  
  
Yugi stood up and pushed in his chair, nodding.  
  
"Yes," he agreed with a smile. "It was delicious. And thanks for telling us about yourself."  
  
Madam Christina smiled.  
  
"I really ought to thank you for listening. I don't have a lot of people to talk to, you know," she replied as the others stood up as well, Mr. Zaliki walking over to talk to Madam Christina.  
  
Yugi smiled back at the woman.  
  
"Well...I'll see you later!" he called, as he waved and walked away with Tea.  
  
"Can we look around?" Duke asked Madam Christina, as he and Amber got up from the table too.  
  
Madam Christina nodded happily.  
  
"By all means!" she encouraged. "Enjoy yourselves, and if you have any questions, feel free to ask."  
  
Mr. Zalikik sighed.  
  
"And learn something!" he called after Duke and Amber as they hurried off down one of the long hallways leading from the dining room.  
  
Mr. Taylor chuckled as he watched Seto and Mokuba stand up and start to leave the room.  
  
"Kids these days," he muttered with a laugh as he joined Mr. Zaliki and the bus driver.  
  
Madam Christina chuckled as she stood up.  
  
"They're really something else, aren't they?" she said with a small smile.  
  
Mr. Zaliki rolled his eyes.  
  
**********  
  
Seto and Mokuba trudged back up the stairs, Priest Seto floating after them.  
  
"Things are getting very confusing..." he said aloud.  
  
Seto shrugged.  
  
"Not really. Madam Christina is related to a man that owns a Millennium Item," he replied. "That's not what I'm concerned about."  
  
Mokuba sighed.  
  
"I wonder if she can see the spirits as well..."  
  
"Niisama?" Mokuba asked.  
  
"Hm?" Seto said, looking down at his brother as they reached the top of the staircase.  
  
"I just wanted to say, thanks," he replied.  
  
Seto and Priest Seto both raised an eyebrow.  
  
"For what?" Seto asked, kneeling down to his brother's level.  
  
Mokuba shrugged.  
  
"Just taking me with you, I guess," he replied, looking up at him. "I'm glad you didn't leave me at home. I like being with you."  
  
Seto smiled, and for the first time of the day, he forgot the nagging feeling that they were in danger.  
  
"I'm glad, Mokuba," he replied. "I like having you around too."  
  
Mokuba smiled back, but the brotherly moment between the two was interrupted as the entire building was suddenly plunged into darkness.  
  
********  
  
End of Chapter 5  
  
"Wow! What's going on?!?!"  
  
:-X My lips are sealed.  
  
And yeah, I gave Shadi a relative. It's my story for one, and I thought it would make the plot more interesting. Plus, I needed to bring the guy in somehow, didn't I? ^_~  
  
"-_-"  
  
Review to find out what happens!^_~ 


	6. Chapter 6: Mystery in the Darkness

Chapter 6: Mystery in the Darkness  
  
Notes: Odion...or however you spell it...  
  
Yes, I know that's his dub name, but it's so irritating I absolutely refuse to use it in any fic. ^_~ No, he's going to Rishido or Lishido in my fics. ^^  
  
"Oh, and I'm glad you like our brotherly moments, Silver and Golden. ^^ We love writing them."  
  
^_^ Yep. Cute brotherly moments are so fun. Anyway, here's chapter 6 for you all.  
  
*********  
  
Chapter 6: Mystery in the Darkness  
  
"Niisama!" Mokuba cried, groping around in the darkness.  
  
"Mokuba, don't move!" Seto commanded as another crack of thunder boomed outside.  
  
A beat of cold sweat ran down his cheek. They were still at the top of the stairs. In the dark, if Mokuba took a wrong step, or tripped, he could fall down the stairs.  
  
"Niisama?" Mokuba asked, this time from further away.  
  
Seto put his hands out in front of him and slowly walked forward.  
  
"I'm coming, just stay where you are," he said kindly, reaching out and finding his brother's arm.  
  
Mokuba held his brother tightly around the waist.  
  
"This is creepy..." he muttered, his voice fearful sounding. "Why did the lights go out?"  
  
"I was wondering that myself," Priest Seto agreed, somewhere from behind Seto.  
  
Seto did not mention what was really on his mind. That maybe the black car had something to do with this...  
  
"I'm sure it's just a power-outage due to the storm," Seto replied, finding a suitable excuse, his eyes slowly adjusting to the darkness. "Let's see if we can't find the others."  
  
Mokuba nodded.  
  
"Okay, niisama," Mokuba replied, shakily.  
  
*********  
  
"Oh my!" Madam Christina exclaimed, backing up into Mr. Taylor.  
  
"What is tarnation is going on around here?" he cried, grabbing Madam Christina's arm to prevent her from toppling over.  
  
There was a crash from somewhere in a room close by, and then a scream.  
  
"This could be dangerous!" Madam Christina cried, shivering. "The children could hurt themselves on something...and possibly break some of the antiques in my collection."  
  
Mr. Zaliki cleared his throat, sweating at the thought of having to pay for broken antiques.  
  
"EVERYONE WHO CAN HEAR MY VOICE!" he shouted, loudly, hoping the students would hear him. "PLEASE COME BACK TO THE DINING HALL! NOW!"  
  
Mr. Taylor cringed at the loud voice and footsteps were heard in the hallway, clomping around on the wooden floors.  
  
Mr. Zaliki and the bus driver looked over toward the door.  
  
  
  
"Yugi? Tea?" Mr. Zaliki called, unsure.  
  
"Tristan?" Mr. Taylor added.  
  
He put his hand to his chin thoughtfully.  
  
"Is this, possibly a prank by the children?" he asked the group.  
  
Madam Christina gasped and the bus driver groaned.  
  
"I wouldn't put it past them," he sighed.  
  
Madam Christina shook her head.  
  
"They seem like such nice, responsible children," she protested.  
  
Mr. Zaliki sighed and buried his head in his hands. The LAST thing he had wanted to do was to be stuck in the middle of nowhere in another person's house in the middle of a black out. (In a thunderstorm)   
  
Suddenly, the door flew open and a white light blinded the four adults.  
  
"What's going on?!" The bus driver cried, shielding his eyes from the bright light with his hands.  
  
The light changed direction and the beam pointed up at the ceiling, partially illuminating the room. Mr. Taylor, Zaliki, Madam Christina, and the driver looked over at the doorway.  
  
Madam Christina put a hand over her heart and sighed with relief.  
  
"Oh, thank goodness," she sighed, recognizing the figure. "It's only you, Jim."  
  
Jim grinned, and pulled a gun out of his pocket, aiming it at the group. Mr. Taylor gasped.  
  
"My gosh!" he cried.  
  
Madam Christina's eyes widened in shock.  
  
"Jim...what on earth are you doing with that gun?" she cried, terrified.  
  
Mr. Zaliki looked shocked as Jim laughed.  
  
"Hands up, now. Looks like you and your brother got involved with the wrong kind of people," he chuckled, gesturing upward with the gun.  
  
*********  
  
Tea shrieked and grabbed Yugi's arm.  
  
"What's going on?" she cried, as the hallway lights went out as she and Yugi were just passing through the hall in between the kitchen and a large room, whose contents were unknown.  
  
Yugi gulped, trying to stay calm. With the storm outside, it was almost as though they were in a haunted mansion.  
  
"Don't worry, Tea..." he muttered, holding on to her hand. "I'm sure it's just a minor blackout."  
  
Yami's voice suddenly rang through his partner's mind.  
  
"Yugi..." he echoed.  
  
Yugi nodded.  
  
"Yami? Do you know what's going on?" Yugi asked, though, he doubted his partner had anything to do with it.  
  
Yami sighed.  
  
"I do not, Yugi," he replied.  
  
He paused.  
  
"At least...not directly."  
  
Yugi frowned.  
  
"What do you mean?"  
  
"I sense someone else has entered the house," Yami replied seriously. "I think I should take over, aibou."  
  
  
  
"Right," Yugi agreed, the puzzle lighting up for a moment and Yami Yugi replacing Yugi as the controller of the body.  
  
"Let's go, Tea," Yami said in his voice, which was much deeper than the regular Yugi's.  
  
Tea nodded, sensing the Yugi's had changed.  
  
"Okay..." she said, clinging on to his arm tightly as they walked slowly down the hallway.  
  
"We need to find the others," Yami announced.  
  
Tea nodded again.  
  
"I hope everyone is alright..." she thought to herself as lightning struck outside once again.  
  
**********  
  
Taerro and Tristan jumped as the lights went out and thunder cracked overhead.  
  
"What the heck is going on here?" Tristan cried, looking around, trying to adjust to the darkness.  
  
Taerro shrugged, bumbing into someone, or something, in the hall. He jumped, backing up into Tristan.  
  
"Who's there?!" Taerro stammered, when a bright light from the thing in front of him blinded him.  
  
"Yow! Cut that thing off!" Tristan cried, shielding his eyes from the light as it came closer.  
  
The light died down slightly as a small but eerie chuckle filled the hallway, causing Tristan and Taerro both to look around, wildly, then back on the figure that was now visible.  
  
"Bakura!" Tristan cried.  
  
"Evil Bakura!" Taerro corrected, recognizing his friend's now strange look. He knew it only too well.  
  
Yami Bakura laughed.  
  
"You recognized me so easily?" he inquired, the lighting outside illuminating the hallway even more. "Hm, oh well."  
  
"Get out of Bakura, now!" Tristan demanded, pointing an accusing finger at Yami Bakura. "That is his body, NOT yours!"  
  
Yami Bakura laughed again, then narrowed his eyes at Tristan and Taerro.  
  
"You mortals can either step out of my way and let me pass, or I will punish you for trying to prevent me from reaching my goal," Yami Bakura explained, eyes filled with evil.  
  
Taerro gulped and backed up, closer to Tristan.  
  
"Uh...which one should we go with, man?" he asked Tristan, nervously, as bead of sweat falling to the floor.  
  
Tristan gritted his teeth.  
  
"We'll stand aside," he muttered, moving out of Yami Bakura's way.  
  
Yami Bakura grinned.  
  
"Hm, you've grown a little wiser, I see," he commented to Tristan, a glow shooting from the Millennium Ring and binding Tristan and Taerro, lifting them off the floor.  
  
"Hey! What gives?" Tristan demanded, as he struggled to move his arms and legs, but found it fruitless.  
  
Yami Bakura chuckled as he began to move forward, Tristan and Taerro following by air, as though they were attached to an invisible string Yami Bakura was holding.  
  
"This is bad, eh Tristan?" Taerro sighed as the two were dragged along behind the evil spirit.  
  
Tristan nodded, an angry look on his face.  
  
"Yeah...I sure hope we run into Yugi soon," Tristan mumbled, as they turned a corner.  
  
Taerro nodded, gulping.   
  
********  
  
Amber turned around quickly, slamming into Duke behind, causing them both to fall over and land on the ground with a thud.  
  
"Ohh," he moaned, putting a hand to his head. "That hurt."  
  
Amber blinked, looking around.  
  
"Yeah...I'm sorry about that," she replied, pushing herself up and looking around. "I'm just glad I didn't run into an antique in the dark."  
  
She put her hands on her hips, angrily.  
  
"Why did the lights go out anyway?" she muttered, trying to adjust to the darkness.  
  
Duke shrugged, standing up as well.  
  
"I don't know...maybe the electrical wires were short circuited by the storm," he guessed, blinking and staring at her.  
  
Then, he turned around.  
  
"What is it?" Amber muttered, walking back toward him.  
  
Duke narrowed his eyes.  
  
"I thought I heard Mr. Zaliki calling...but I could be wrong..." he muttered, before running right into Joey.  
  
"Whoa man! Watch where you're going!" Joey exclaimed, backing away from Duke.  
  
Duke rolled his eyes.  
  
"It's pitch black dark, Joey," he muttered, squinting to make out the blonde-boy's outline.  
  
Joey shrugged.  
  
"Yeah...pretty creepy the way the electricity just went out like that," he replied.  
  
Amber sighed, walking forward.  
  
"Whatever, let's go back to the dining hall and find the others," she suggested.  
  
Duke nodded.  
  
"Good idea," he agreed.  
  
There was a snicker from behind him, and then a click of some sort, and something glinted in the darkness as lighting struck outside.  
  
"Oh, I wouldn't do that if I were you," Came a deep voice and two men stepped out of the shadows.  
  
*********  
  
"Look out!" Priest Seto called, as two men jumped lunged at Seto as they came out from behind a large statue in the hallway.  
  
Seto grabbed Mokuba's arm and pulled him away, just in time. The two men advanced on them as Seto and Mokuba hurried toward the stairs. Seto nudged Mokuba down the stairs, and then turned around again to face the enemies.  
  
"Niisama! You can't fight them alone!" he cried, but Seto wasn't listening.  
  
"Just go downstairs Mokuba! And find the others!" Seto insisted, dodging one man's attack, causing the man to trip over the stairs and topple down, Mokuba grabbing the railing and avoiding crashing into the man just in time.  
  
"Niisama!" he cried, looking up at his brother, his eyes shining fearfully as the second man advanced on Seto.  
  
"Just go Mokuba!" Priest Seto instructed, floating over the battle. "I'll make sure you're brother doesn't get hurt. Now go!"  
  
Priest Seto swallowed, knowing he'd promised something that he had little control over. As a spirit, he couldn't do much, except possess Seto's body, but that was of little help to anyone. But Seto was right; Mokuba had to get away from this fight.  
  
"Go now!" The priest yelled, seeing a third man lunge out of the shadows. "Use a different staircase!" he added, remembering the second thug who had fallen down that set of stairs, and not wanting Mokuba to run into him.  
  
Mokuba pulled himself up by the railing and nodding.  
  
"O...okay!" he cried, running down the hallway.  
  
As he reached the end near the corner, he turned back and watched his brother fight with the men.  
  
"Be careful, niisama," he whispered, before turning and running down the hallway.  
  
*********  
  
Madam Christina blinked.  
  
  
  
"My brother?" she asked Jim, quizzically. "You know Shadi?"  
  
Jim chuckled.  
  
"Hm, yeah, you could say we've MET," he said, grinning behind the hand that was aiming the gun at Mr. Taylor, Mr. Zaliki, Madam Christina, and the bus driver.  
  
Madam Christina's normally cheery face faded.  
  
"What have you done to Shadi?" she demanded now. "He was supposed to arrive here this morning from Egypt. Where is he?"  
  
Jim grinned.  
  
"He was on his way to see you all right, madam, when he ran into us..."  
  
********  
  
End of Chapter 6  
  
Review! Review!  
  
"Thanks for reading, and review!" 


	7. Chapter 7: Lies and Battle

Chapter 7: Lies and Battle   
  
Notes: O_O` Be prepared for a chapter where anything can happen.   
  
"And more specifically, a LOT will happen. ^_-`  
  
^_^ Yep!  
  
"And…in reply to Alan…*humph*  
  
^^;;; Yeah, she'll be nice from now on.  
  
********  
  
Chapter 7: Lies, Tragedy, and Battle  
  
"Aaaaa!" Joey screamed as he, Duke, and Amber ran down the hallway and away from the two thugs who had stepped out of the darkness and were now chasing after them.  
  
"Run out the door!" he yelled, running toward the back door.  
  
Duke shook his head, his black pony-tail whipping around wildly as he ran toward the stair case.  
  
"Bad idea Joey! Go upstairs!" he yelled, pounding up the back staircase.  
  
Amber nodded, her brown hair flying around wildly as well as she turned shortly and ran after Duke, her sneakers skidding on Madam Christina's wood floors.  
  
"It's still storming out there!" she yelled back to him, running up the staircase.  
  
Joey sighed and sweatdropped.  
  
"Oh yeah, I forgot!" he said in a nervous laugh.  
  
"There he is!"  
  
"Get them!"  
  
Joey jumped and ran up the stairs after the two, gulping.  
  
"Wait for me guys!" he yelled as he heard the strange men behind him running up after him.  
  
*********  
  
Yami Bakura walked around upstairs, looking around at all the strange antiques.  
  
"Why do I get the feeling of déjà vu, as you modern people say?" Yami Bakura commented, gazing at a few familiar works.  
  
Taerro cleared his throat slightly, feeling very uncomfortable, suspended in mid-air and bound together like he was roped up.  
  
"Um...it's actually a French word..." he began, but Yami Bakura threw him a death glare.  
  
"I didn't ask you," he snapped, continuing to walk forward. "I merely meant that this seems awfully familiar..."  
  
Tristan wiggled his arms around, trying to break free of the magical bind that was holding him together.  
  
"It's the woman's new house from the island," he snapped, trying desperately to fight against the bonds.  
  
Yami Bakura noticed his struggle.  
  
"You may as well sit back and enjoy yourselves," he chuckled, turning to walk down a long and dusty set of stairs. "Nothing but magic can break that bond," he added.  
  
  
  
And if he'd been paying attention, he would have noticed that the brainy look in Taerro's eyes flicker for a moment, and then returned to normal.  
  
"Come now, we have much to do," Yami Bakura instructed, walking up the stairs, Tristan and Taerro floating after him.  
  
Tristan gritted his teeth again.  
  
"We've got to get free somehow," he muttered to Taerro.  
  
Taerro didn't reply.  
  
********  
  
"What have you done with my brother?!" Madam Christina demanded, more fiercely this time.  
  
Mr. Taylor gulped.  
  
"Something tells me this sounds like foul play..." he muttered to himself.  
  
Mr. Zaliki huffed.  
  
"And someone barging in and pulling a gun on you doesn't?" he snapped in reply.  
  
Mr. Taylor looked offended.  
  
"Shut up, the both of you," Jim snapped, still holding the gun up at the group, and turning back to Madam Christina. "Now...that old-fashioned brother of yours...Shadi, did you say his name was?"  
  
Madam Christina's normally carefree eyes were now narrowed in anger as Jim continued his story.  
  
"Yeah...he had boarded boat for Japan last week," Jim said with an ever present grin plastered on his face, proud, it seemed, of what he was saying. "Wore a solid gold necklace around his neck...not a good thing when you've got our group on board."  
  
Madam Christina's eyes widened.  
  
"You didn't steal that ankh, did you?" she cried in disbelief.  
  
Jim's grin widened.  
  
"Well, we didn't JUST steal it," he replied gleefully. "We made your brother, let us say, disappear as well. At least, from the boat"  
  
Madam Christina was now on the verge of extreme anger.  
  
  
  
"How DARE you steal that item, which our family has watched for nearly 3 millennia, and then abduct my brother?!" she cried in an outburst.  
  
Mr. Taylor gently pulled on her arm a bit, hoping to prevent her from trying to attack the armed man.  
  
Jim laughed, enjoying her angry state.  
  
"Yep, you got that right lady," he replied. "And soon, that Ankh is going to be making us money, and your brother will be out of the way."  
  
He grinned slyly.  
  
"And so will all of you..." he added, turning toward them again.  
  
*********  
  
Meanwhile, Seto was still fighting off the thugs, one by one. The second one, who had fallen down the stairs had recovered and returned to the battle, making it a three against one battle. (Not including Priest Seto, of course)  
  
Seto punched the first man in the chest, but was knocked to his feet by the second man. Seto leapt to his feet and backed up, knocking number three into number one.  
  
The second man chuckled, picking up a metal pole from the floor, like the kinds you would use for a shower curtain. He lashed out at Seto, who ducked, but was immediately tackled by the third man, knocking him to the ground again.  
  
"Get up and fight!" Priest Seto encouraged, watching the battle from overhead.  
  
Seto huffed, jumping out of the way of another attack from the pole.  
  
"You aren't helping up there," he reminded him, as the pole came into contact with his shoulder.  
  
He winced, pulling back, trying to defend himself from the first man's physical attack as well as the attack from the pole as they backed up toward the end of the dark hallway.  
  
Priest Seto frowned.  
  
"I would if I could!" he called back, watching as the third man punched Seto hard in the chest, causing him to pause and back up, gasping for air.  
  
A spirit's only ability, at least to his knowledge, was possession. But what good would that do? If he possessed Seto, he would still only have his abilities...  
  
Below, Seto was knocked over and against the wall, now panting for breath as the three men advanced, grinning. Priest Seto worriedly looked down at his reincarnate, as he struggled back to his feet, when suddenly, a thought came to mind.  
  
Why possess Seto?  
  
Priest Seto floated down and took possession of the third man. He blinked, trying to get used to the new body as the other two continued their attack on Seto.  
  
"Stop that!" Priest Seto called, knocking the first man over.  
  
Seto raised an eyebrow as he got back up, trying to ignore the stinging in his arms and chest.  
  
"What the heck are you doing?!" The second man yelled at Priest Seto, wondering why his partner was now suddenly attacking them.  
  
"He's gone nuts," The first replied, as Priest Seto dodged a punch from him. "Well, just knock him out and Stella can deal with him later."  
  
Seto's eyes widened.  
  
"Stella?" he gasped, narrowing his eyes.   
  
So she HAD come back to get him...as well as everyone else. He blinked, looking back up as the rod was swung forward, aimed at Priest Seto, who ducked, causing the pole to slam into Seto again.  
  
"Ow!" Seto cried, his vision starting to swirl.  
  
Priest Seto paused, but Seto got back up again and confronted the man once more, knocking him over with a fast attack.  
  
"Finish him off," Another man, walking up to them with another one beside him and the man with the rod lunged at Priest Seto, who grabbed the pole instead.  
  
"Forget it," he snapped, yanking it out of the other man's hands.  
  
Priest Seto turned around for a second, only to see the other man knock Seto to the ground, where he hit his head against the wall. He groaned as he attempted to get up once more, but found it impossible.  
  
As he paused, stunned, one man pinned the body he was in to the ground, holding him tightly while the others advanced on Seto.  
  
Priest Seto, unable to do anything in the body anymore, freed his spirit, shaking in fury. They were going to kill Seto if he didn't do anything!   
  
Helpless...  
  
  
  
Useless...  
  
This is how it felt to watch the battle between the Pharaoh and Yami Bakura back in the ancient times as a spirit. You are unable to do anything to help anyone. But this was too much...  
  
*********  
  
Amber, Duke, and Joey took a wild turn and pounded up the staircase, running away from the goons that were after them.  
  
"We need a plan!" Joey yelled.  
  
Duke nodded, eyes wide.  
  
"I'll say!" he yelled back, noticing a dresser standing in the hallway up a few more stairs.  
  
His eyes lit up.  
  
"The dresser!" he yelled to Amber, who was a few steps ahead of him.  
  
The dresser caught her eye and she nodded with a grin.  
  
"Right!" she replied, hurrying up the last few steps and getting behind the dresser.  
  
Duke and Joey were soon behind her, and together, they pushed the dresser down the steps, allowing it to fall onto their attacker, knocking him down the stairs.  
  
"All right! We did it!" Amber said triumphantly slapping Duke high five.  
  
Suddenly, a huge smashing sound filled the air from down the hallway, causing the three to look up, alarmed.  
  
"What was that?" Duke asked, narrowing his eyes.  
  
Amber shook her head, nervously.  
  
"I don't know..." she muttered, looking down the dark hallway. "But we ought to go find out!"  
  
She ran forward, and down the hallway.  
  
"Wait Amber!" Duke cried, not wanting Amber to get hurt, running after her.  
  
Joey sighed, but sprinted after them.  
  
"Wait up!" he yelled.  
  
*********  
  
Priest Seto's eyes which were usually calm were now light up with blue fire as he glared down at the people who had been attacking the two of them.  
  
~~...your true abilities...~~  
  
If he had any abilities, now was the time for them to start working.  
  
~~I promise, I won't let your brother get hurt...~~  
  
"That...is...ENOUGH!" Priest Seto thundered, shutting his eyes as a crack of white lightning suddenly hit, inside the room.  
  
A rush of wind blasted past the thugs, causing them to halt, as a huge figure began to appear, with a long white neck and a long tail, and glowing, blue eyes.  
  
"Let's get out of here!" The man who had previously been holding the pole cried, and he and his partners ran down the hall, right past Duke, Amber, and Joey in the process.  
  
"Hey! Joey yelled angrily as we was nearly knocked over.  
  
Duke blinked and stopped short as the White Dragon roared loudly.  
  
"What the...heck?!" he cried, wide-eyed.  
  
Priest Seto, floating in mid-air, opened his eyes and stared at the dragon beside him.  
  
"White Dragon..." he whispered, everything now falling into place.  
  
An Egyptian's Ka would live on with them in their afterlife. All along, he had the White Dragon Ka with him...he just had never tried to use it...therefore never realizing he had it with him.  
  
"What's going on here?" Joey cried, as the dragon roared again, turning to its master, or rather, present master, as it had once belonged to someone else in the ancient times.  
  
Something that made Priest Seto always feel strange about the dragon. As Priest Seto reached out to touch the dragon, sort of to thank it, it disappeared, back to Priest Seto's mind.  
  
He was so lost in thought about Bastet's words that it was only when Duke yelled something that he returned to reality.  
  
"Kaiba!" he cried, running over to Seto, who was trying to get up again.  
  
Amber shook her head, as if to clear the image of the dragon from her mind, and gasped, running over to Duke, who had knelt down beside Seto.  
  
"What happened?" Amber started, horrified, as Joey muttered something behind her.  
  
"Man...what WAS that weird dragon?" he asked in complete shock, his eyes wide.  
  
"Not now, Joey," Duke snapped, turning back to Seto. "Hey, what happened to you?"  
  
Seto paused.  
  
"I was attacked by a bunch of thugs," he said simply, taking a deep breath.  
  
"Are you..." Amber started, but Seto cut her off.  
  
"I'm fine, don't worry about me," Seto said sharply.  
  
Amber raised an eyebrow, looking at Seto closely. There was a gash on his arm, and a bruise on his left cheek, and he was breathing heavily.  
  
She shrugged.  
  
  
  
"You don't look all right to me," Priest Seto replied, just glad he'd been able to stop the gang before they could have really done something serious.  
  
Seto didn't reply, knowing Amber and Duke would probably just think he was delirious to be talking to people who weren't visible.  
  
"Ok...do you have a cell phone?" Duke asked Amber, realizing this was the first, and perhaps only free moment they had.  
  
Amber nodded, pulling it out of her pocket.  
  
"All right, first, see if you can reach the police, and tell them we're being attacked," Duke instructed her, praying she could reach them, even in the storm. "Then we ought to do something about Kaiba."  
  
"I told you, I'm fine," Seto replied, leaning against the wall slightly.  
  
Joey rolled his eyes.  
  
"Yeah, you look just dandy," he muttered as Amber nodded again, to Duke.  
  
"Quiet Joey," she hissed, starting to dial the number, as another flash of lighting cracked outside.  
  
**********  
  
End of Chapter 7  
  
: ( Poor Seto.  
  
"Aw, he's fine." ^^  
  
-_- Sure he is. And anyone notice something strange about Taerro? ^_~  
  
Anyway, review to find out what happens! 


	8. Chapter 8: Problems

Chapter 8: Problems  
  
Notes: Hm, let's see now. Seto is ok for now, although later, who knows? :P  
  
"Especially knowing SK. Who knows WHAT she'll write next?!"  
  
Ha ha. Very funny. Anyway, here's the chapter.  
  
*******  
  
Chapter 8: Problems  
  
Mokuba panted as he paused on a stair to rest for a moment, and catch his breath. He'd ran away from Seto and Priest Seto and the fight nearly ten minutes before and was now completely exhausted.  
  
"Please win, Seto," he thought to himself, closing his eyes for a moment.  
  
Suddenly, he heard footsteps on the stairs above him, and his eyes snapped open, alarmed.  
  
"What this we have here?" Came a familiar, slightly British voice.  
  
Mokuba looked up at saw Bakura standing a few stairs above him. He sighed with relief and smiled.  
  
"Bakura!" he cried, relieved slightly, standing up. "Bakura, where are the others?"  
  
Yami Bakura's lip curled into a smile.  
  
"The others?" he asked innocently. "Well, I don't know, but..."  
  
"He's lying!" Tristan yelled from behind Yami Bakura, trying to turn his head around upon recognizing Mokuba's voice. "It's not Bakura! It's the evil spirit from the Millennium Ring possessing Bakura!"  
  
Mokuba's eyes widened and he backed up, down a few stairs, shakily.  
  
"Evil Bakura?" he whispered, his voice shaky.  
  
Behind Yami Bakura's back, Tristan struggled against the magical bindings once again, trying in vain to get loose.  
  
"Drat it! We have got to get loose!" he growled to Taerro.  
  
Taerro's eyes lit up with a blue glow, and Tristan stopped struggling and stared at his friend.  
  
"Uh...Taerro?" Tristan asked feebly, wide-eyed as the magical bonds suddenly broke, and the two feel a few inches to the ground.  
  
"Whoa!" Tristan cried, moving his arms around joyously.  
  
Then, his face grew serious again.  
  
"Taerro..." he muttered, studying his friend. "No, you're not Taerro, are you?"  
  
He narrowed his eyes and backed up against the wall. Sandwiched between two possessed friends, and the only person nearby was a ten-year old boy.  
  
He gulped.  
  
"Taerro..." Yami Bakura snarled softly, narrowing his eyes.  
  
"Bakura..." Yami Taerro said, equally as evil sounding.  
  
  
  
Yami Taerro was an evil spirit that had been sealed away by priests of Egypt long ago, and was released into Taerro's body when he cracked the tablet the spirit had been sealed into.  
  
Tristan gulped again, and backed away from the two possessed boys. He grabbed Mokuba's wrist.  
  
"Let's get going," he hissed to the boy, and started down the steps again.  
  
"But...!" Mokuba protested, but Tristan clamped his hand over Mokuba's mouth.  
  
"Shush! We're going! They're not themselves," he muttered.   
  
*********  
  
Yami and Tea halted to a stop in the hallway at the sound of a siren through the storm.  
  
"Sounds like an ambulance, or a police car..." Tea muttered, narrowing her eyes and looking around.  
  
Yami narrowed his eyes as well.  
  
"I sense they are coming here," he replied. "But whatever for?"  
  
Tea shivered, rubbing her bare arms with her hands as they continued down the hallway.  
  
"I'm not so sure I really want to find out," she replied, nervously.  
  
**********  
  
Jim suddenly lowered his weapon a bit, hearing the sirens. Mr. Taylor grinned, happy to see him suddenly, worried.  
  
"Hm, appears we've forgotten to tell you about our guests this evening..." he said playfully, surprising even himself with his humor in such a situation.  
  
Jim scowled, reaching into his pocket and throwing something on the ground, causing a huge cloud of smoke to rise up in front of Madam Christina, Mr. Zaliki, Taylor, and the driver.  
  
"What is going on...?!" Madam Christina coughed, choking on the smoke as she heard the front door open and slam again.  
  
"I think they're leaving! Someone must have called the police!" Mr. Zaliki exclaimed.  
  
Mr. Taylor sighed.  
  
"Thank goodness," he said, collapsing in a chair at the table.  
  
Madam Christina, however, was frozen in place, a look of terror still plastered across her face. The driver reached over and touched her arm, causing her to gasp.  
  
"Ma'am?" he asked kindly, raising an eyebrow. "Are you...all right?"  
  
Madam Christina nodded, her eyes sad.  
  
"I am fine," she replied, stressing the I. "But what have those horrible men done with my brother?"  
  
*********  
  
The next moment, all the doors of the mansion seemed to open, and police officers and others flooded in, all holding guns and looking for the intruders. The side door flung open as Tristan and Mokuba were passing, and they held their weapons up to them.  
  
"Whoa man, take it easy!" Tristan replied, holding up a hand in surrender. "We're not intruders."  
  
Mokuba nodded sincerely.  
  
"Yeah! There's a bunch of thugs all of the place, and they were attacking my older brother!" he cried.  
  
The police officer nodded and he and his two partners ran by the two boys, leaving them alone once more.  
  
"Tristan?" Mokuba asked, shivering as Tristan closed the open door. "Can we find my niisama?" he pleaded.  
  
Tristan nodded.  
  
"Sure," he replied. "But first, let's find Yugi and have him stop the fight between evil one and evil two upstairs."  
  
Mokuba nodded.  
  
**********  
  
The next half hour was spent finding everyone. Amber took Seto with her to get him fixed up, much to his irritation, while Duke and Joey spread out to find the others.  
  
Tea and Yugi met back in the hall with Madam Christina and the other adults while Tristan and Mokuba tried to find their way back as well, also calling for anyone who would answer, while dodging cops as they came running through, searching for the intruders.  
  
"Ma'am," The chief of police informed Madam Christina when they had completed their search. "I regret to say, we haven't found any trace of the criminals you described."  
  
A small boom of thunder cracked outside. The storm was getting weaker.  
  
Madam Christina sighed as she sat down wearily in a chair at the dining room table.  
  
"You will continue to search for them, won't you?" she asked, looking up at the man with her sparkling eyes.  
  
The officer nodded.  
  
"Rest assured, ma'am, we will do everything in our power to make sure those criminals are brought to justice," he promised, writing things down on a miniature notepad.  
  
He flipped the cover shut as another officer walked in.  
  
"The whole place is empty," he informed concluded.   
  
Yugi and Tea's eyes grew wide, as did the adult's as well.  
  
"Empty!?" Tea cried. "What about our friends?!"   
  
The officer scratched his head.  
  
"I only saw a brown-hared boy with a little boy, and a girl with an injured brown-hared boy," he replied.  
  
"Injured?" Tea pressed. "That means one of our friends is hurt!"  
  
Yugi bit his lip, but at that moment, Tristan and Mokuba burst in.  
  
"Tristan!" Mr. Taylor said, glad to see his son was not injured. "Where have you been?"  
  
"Yugi!" Tristan panted, ignoring his father for the moment, eager to inform Yugi of what they'd seen.  
  
Tea gasped.  
  
"If Tristan's here, that means Kaiba's the one who's hurt," she concluded.  
  
This, however, was definitely NOT the right thing to say at that moment. Mokuba's eyes went wide with fear.  
  
"Niisama's hurt?!" he cried, running over to Tea.  
  
"Who is hurt?" Came a deep voice, and everyone looked up as Bob walked into the room, looking a little ruffed up himself.  
  
Madam Christina sighed sadly.  
  
"Oh Bob, I'm glad you're all right, but Jim...Jim attacked us all, with a whole group!" she cried.  
  
Bob's eyes were wide as well.  
  
"Jim? Jim was working with those men who attacked the house?" he asked in disbelief.  
  
Madam Christina nodded sadly.  
  
"What happened to my brother!" Mokuba practically shouted.  
  
The officer looked down at the boy and shrugged.  
  
"He must have been injured by the intruders," he replied. "It looked like your friend was taking care of him."  
  
Mr. Zaliki sighed.  
  
Mokuba looked at the stairs, worriedly.  
  
"I'm going to go find him!" he called to the others, running up the staircase, nearly tripping as he did so.  
  
Yugi and Tea were about to go after him, when Tristan stepped in the way.  
  
"What is it, Tristan?" Yugi asked, curiously.  
  
Tristan sighed.  
  
"Looks like evil Bakura and evil Taerro are BOTH back, and are about to duke it out upstairs," he muttered, trying not to let the officers overhear. "And I think you need to be the referee," he added.  
  
Yugi nodded, and he, Tea, and Tristan crept toward the doorway that led to the back hallway.  
  
"Where are you three going?" Mr. Zaliki suddenly asked, walking up behind them, looking pale and worried. "We still need to find Wheeler, Devlin, Johnson, Kaiba, Bakura, and Sakishi.  
  
Yugi nodded.  
  
"That's where we're going," he replied, as Tristan opened the door. "We'll find the others, and make sure they're not in trouble."  
  
Mr. Zaliki took a deep breath.  
  
"All right," he replied, turning around. "I'm going to call a repair shop to get to work on our bus. I'm not sure I want to stay here anymore than we have to."  
  
Yugi gulped, as he, Tea, and Tristan bounded down the hallway and up the staircase.  
  
***********  
  
Meanwhile, Amber had managed to drag Seto back to his bedroom, where she was having him wait while she tried to find some sort of band-aid.  
  
"Hm...I think I saw some in under my bathroom sink," she mumbled, slamming a drawer shut and walking over to the door of his bedroom. "Wait here while I go find them."  
  
Seto sighed as she closed the door. As soon as the door was safely shut, he sighed and fell back on his bed, wearily, closing his eyes.  
  
"I knew you weren't all right," Priest Seto accused, looking down at Seto.  
  
Seto cracked one eye open.  
  
"I said I'm fine," he mumbled. "Just tired."  
  
Priest Seto shrugged, sitting down on the other side of the room. He looked skeptically over at Seto.  
  
"Those men were familiar," he said seriously.  
  
Seto sighed. He'd been enjoying the silence.  
  
"Yes, I believe it's Stella's gang again," he replied. "But what she wants...I don't know. It looked like the American girl, Wheeler, and Devlin had been attacked as well."  
  
Priest Seto put his transparent hand to his chin thoughtfully.  
  
"Perhaps this attack has nothing to do with your stay here," he suggested to Seto. "Perhaps, in fact, it was good that you all were here..."  
  
Seto sighed, forcing himself to sit up again. He narrowed his eyes as he studied the priest.  
  
"What did you do back there?" he asked suddenly.  
  
Priest Seto's eyebrows went up.   
  
"With the White Dragon?" he asked. "That is...or rather, was my Ka during my lifetime. I only just recently realized I can still summon it in my after life. That's what drove those men away, I might add."  
  
Seto frowned at the floor.  
  
"Yes...thank you..." he mumbled, but that didn't seem to be what was on the boy's mind.  
  
Priest Seto raised an eyebrow.  
  
"What's wrong now?" he asked, looking curiously over at his reincarnate.  
  
Seto sighed.  
  
"I own three of a Duel Monster card that only four have ever been made," he replied. "The Blue Eyes White Dragon."  
  
Priest Seto looked strangely over at him.  
  
"Cards? Of the monsters we used to fight with back in the old times?" he asked.  
  
Seto nodded.  
  
"I suppose that's what the rumor is," he agreed. "We use our cards for a game called Duel Monsters."  
  
Priest Seto nodded slowly.  
  
"How fitting for you to have the White Dragon cards, when the White Dragon Ka..."   
  
He trailed off.  
  
"Was part of my life back then," he decided to say.  
  
The door, at that moment, flew open and Mokuba burst in.  
  
"Niisama!" he cried, running over to his brother and hugging him, causing Seto to wince from the bruise across his chest that the pole had inflicted. "Are you okay?"  
  
Seto forced a smile.  
  
"Yeah...I'm fine," he replied, hugging Mokuba back. "Are you?"  
  
Mokuba nodded.  
  
"Yeah, I am," he replied. "I ran into Tristan and we found the others, but I was worried about you when someone said you were hurt!"  
  
"He got a little ruffed up by those men," Priest Seto filled in for his reincarnate.  
  
"But I'm fine," Seto finished, standing up and walking over to the door with Mokuba. "But where are the others?"  
  
"Downstairs, Mokuba replied, running after his brother as Seto opened the door, only to find himself face to face with Amber, who had come back with a first aid kit.  
  
"Hey! Just where do you think you're going?" she demanded, her eyes narrowing.  
  
"Downstairs," Seto replied, attempting to walk around her, but Amber wasn't about to let him by.  
  
"Oh no you don't!" Amber said sternly, putting her hands on her hips. "You're not going anywhere until you get yourself fixed up. I finally found some band-aids."   
  
She held up the first-aid kit and shook it a little to emphasize. Priest Seto couldn't help but laugh at the girl. Mokuba giggled too, as Seto sighed wearily.  
  
**********  
  
End of Chapter 8. Review! Please Review! "^_^ Next chapter up soon!" 


	9. Chapter 9: The Mystery Intensifies

Chapter 9: The Mystery Intensifies  
  
Notes: The Dark World is the Shadow Realm. ^_~ And I updated my profile on Fanfiction.net if anyone's interested.  
  
"*Yawn* I barely said anything. It's a waste of their time to read that."  
  
:o Red!! And sorry for no chapter yesterday. I was busy running around my backyard, chasing little boys off the fences. They seem to think "Drama Club" means come over and rip our backyard to shreds. **shrug*  
  
Oh, and in answer to some reviews a while back, Jim IS part of Stella's gang. I'm sorry if that wasn't clear enough in Chapter 7. ;; Seto and Mokuba moments will ALWAYS be found in my stories because they're so cute and essential to the story. ^^ And Priest Seto and Seto are sort of beginning to understand each other. Hopefully, more on that will be played upon in later chapters.  
  
And, I thought you might like to know, Yami Taerro fans, (If he has any :P) there's going to be a lot about HIS past revealed in the story as well in future chapters. ^_^  
  
"^^;; Here's chapter nine!"  
  
*********  
  
Chapter 9: The Mystery Intensifies  
  
"So Tristan," Yugi panted as the threesome ran up the stairs, hurrying, hoping not to let a huge fight break out between the Millennium Item owners. "You said that both evil Bakura, AND the dark spirit in Taerro have returned?"  
  
"That's what it looked like, man," Tristan replied, skirting around a corner as they reached the top. "And it sure looked like they were looking daggers at each other."  
  
Tea sighed.  
  
"This is bad, not to mention that we have a strange group tailing us again!" she said, taking a deep breath as they rounded another corner.  
  
"Aibou," Yami said, appearing beside Yugi as they ran.  
  
"Yes Yami?" Yugi asked, starting to grow tired from all the running.  
  
"A strange atmosphere seems to be hanging in the air..." he muttered, looking around. "It's almost as if a danger from the outside is still near to us."  
  
Yugi nodded.  
  
"I'm sure the villains are still close by," he agreed. "I hope the police can track them down."  
  
Yami sighed.  
  
"Something tells me this threat is greater than we think," he replied mystically.  
  
**********  
  
Madam Christina sat down at her table, her eyes filling slightly with tears. Her younger brother...kidnapped and at the mercy of those horrible villains who'd just nearly attacked her and her guests?  
  
And the Millennium Key now in the hands of evil...  
  
"Miss?" Mr. Taylor asked kindly, taking a sit next to her.  
  
Mr. Zaliki had gone to call a repair shop, while the driver had gone to help Bob with cleaning up the things that had fallen over during the attack.  
  
Madam Christina sighed.  
  
"Yes?" she replied, her voice no longer peppy and full of life as it had during lunch a few hours before.  
  
"Do you need any...help with anything?" he asked awkwardly, wondering what he could do to help the woman.  
  
Madam Christina cracked a smile.  
  
"No, no I'm fine," she replied, staring out the window at the storm, which was starting to calm down by now. "It's just...I'm worried about my brother. I know the police are doing everything they can to find the group and Shadi, but it still worries me."  
  
  
  
Mr. Taylor nodded sympathetically.  
  
"I understand," he replied, looking down at his watch. "Hm, I guess I'll go see if I can round up all the children. We might be leaving early tomorrow if we can get our bus fixed."  
  
Madam Christina sighed. The last thing she wanted was to be left all alone in her big house, with only Bob and a group of villains stalking her, while her brother was being held captive somewhere.  
  
"All right," she replied, her voice cracking a little.  
  
***********  
  
Over in Egypt, Ishizu got out of the small car she'd taken out into the desert and squinted up at the high temple that she'd come across. She knew this was the place.  
  
Carefully, she walked across the sand and over to the temple entrance, where she walked inside, her shoes creating a click-clack sounds as she walked across the stone floor.  
  
There was a rustling noise behind her, and then again in the back of the room, as if something were running around inside. Ishizu smiled a soft smile.  
  
"I know you are here," she called out, her voice echoing off the temple's high-ceiling. "You can come out."  
  
  
  
There was a blur of black, and a small cat came into view, her eyes narrow and yellow, and a silver collar embedded with a blue gem around her neck. Her claws were striking silver, as were her sharp teeth, which she showed as she grinned at Ishizu.  
  
"You are one of the Pharaoh's friends," she said mystically. "Why have you come back here?"  
  
Ishizu's smile faded.  
  
"Bastet," she addressed her. "I am Ishizu Ishtar, and I have been sensing strange things hovering around the fates of the Pharaoh and the others recently. Just now, I suddenly felt something terrible shake the balance of the Millennium Destiny."  
  
Bastet nodded.  
  
"Your senses are quite in tune, for not having the Millennium Necklace at your disposal any longer," she commented, her tail flicking back and forth. "Yes, we have felt the balance shaken as well. There is a strange interference in the destiny, yet, it seems to be connected still with the Millennium Items..."  
  
Ishizu nodded.  
  
  
  
"Perhaps you can see better than I, but it is as if a cloud of mystery is hovering over that boy and his friends, hiding the truth from us," she suggested. "I feel that perhaps it might be best to investigate."  
  
Bastet narrowed her eyes.  
  
"I have employed a spirit there," she said silkily. "I will contact him."  
  
Ishizu cocked her head ever so slightly.  
  
"A spirit?" she inquired.  
  
Bastet nodded.  
  
"The ancient priest Seto," she replied, causing Ishizu's eyebrows to go up.  
  
"Can he be trusted?" she asked, slightly curious at Bastet's choice of a guardian.  
  
Bastet narrowed her eyes even further, so now they looked like tiny, yellow slits.  
  
"Yes, he can," she replied. "I will see to it that things go back to running smoothly," she assured Ishizu. "Do not worry."  
  
Ishizu nodded, turning to leave, knowing Bastet was eager to have her out of the temple.  
  
"I understand," she replied as she walked away. "I trust your judgment."  
  
But inside, she couldn't help but wonder if Bastet was taking these matters seriously enough.  
  
***********  
  
"There, now that wasn't so bad, was it?" Amber asked with a slight giggle as she snipped off the last bit of a bandage she'd wrapped neatly around a cut on Seto's arm.  
  
She smiled at him as she stuck all the first-aid equipment back in its white box and snapped it shut.  
  
Seto didn't reply. Priest Seto could tell he was not pleased by Amber's attempts to help him.  
  
"Okay! I'm going to go find the other guys and see what's going on...if they've figured out why those thugs were here, and if they've left," she shuddered.  
  
She walked over to the doorway, but turned around before leaving.  
  
"You might want to just go to bed," she said to Seto, who frowned, immediately standing up and pulling his shirt-sleeve back down over the bandage.  
  
"I'm fine. I don't need to go to sleep," he said in a rather irritated manner, following her to the door. "I'd like to find out what's going on as well."  
  
Amber shrugged.  
  
"Sure," she replied, as she opened the door and she, Seto, Mokuba, and Priest Seto started off down the hallway, where they nearly collided with Joey, who looked confused.  
  
"Man...I can't find anyone but you guys," he grumbled, crossing his arms.  
  
Seto rolled his eyes as he shut the door to his room.  
  
"Let's just get downstairs," he said, shutting the door.  
  
He, Mokuba, Amber, and Joey started off downstairs, but Priest Seto lingered behind.  
  
"Hm..." he muttered, looking toward the upstairs.  
  
A strong, magical feeling was pulsing from a room upstairs, so the priest turned back to his reincarnate for a moment, and then hurried upstairs to check things out.  
  
**********  
  
Yami Bakura glared at Yami Taerro as the two stood at the top of the stairway, a few feet from each other.  
  
"Why are you back?" Yami Bakura demanded, his eyes narrowed into tiny, evil slits. "I banished you for good a while back."  
  
Yami Taerro chuckled.  
  
"You may have, Bakura," he said in his deep voice, much different from Taerro's. "But you also brought me back, if you don't remember."  
  
Yami Bakura's eyes narrowed even more.  
  
"What are talking about?" he spat, irritated. "I did no such thing."  
  
Yami Taerro laughed again.  
  
  
  
"Don't you remember?" he chuckled, apparently enjoying taunting Yami Bakura. "Bakura, in that old stone temple this fool of a mortal was in for some reason with you, your Millennium Ring lit up and attacked this mortal, shocking him with magical energies, and reviving myself."  
  
Yami Bakura gasped.  
  
He remembered that scene all too well.  
  
"It was that wretched cat-goddess's magic that did that!" he snarled, clenching his fists, remembering how Bastet had transferred some of her magic to him through a bite.  
  
Yami Taerro sighed, happily looking around.  
  
"I frankly don't care WHO'S fault it was, because now, unlike before, I have returned INSIDE of this boy, rather than only possessing him through an item, that can so EASILY be broken."  
  
Yami Bakura huffed.  
  
"Don't get any ideas," he snapped irritably. "You'll be going right back to the dark world when I get through with you this time."  
  
Yami Taerro's grin grew even wider across Taerro's usually calm and brainy-looking face.  
  
"You really think so?" he asked quietly, but their conversation was interrupted as Yugi, Tea, and Tristan pounded up the stairs.  
  
"There they are!" Yugi cried, pointing at the two.  
  
Yami Bakura hissed.  
  
"We'll settle this another time," he muttered to Yami Taerro, and disappeared back into the ring.  
  
Yami Taerro's eyes narrowed.  
  
"Foolish Tristan must have told Yugi...well, we can fix that," he muttered evilly, and Tristan suddenly stopped in his tracks, looking dazed.  
  
"Tristan?" Tea asked, looking at him as he looked around, confused.  
  
"What's going on?" he asked.  
  
"Tristan! Now there you are!" Taerro cried, running downstairs.  
  
Yugi looked up at Taerro and Bakura. They both seemed quite normal to Yugi, but he narrowed his eyes suspiciously. Why had Tristan told them that they were possessed again?  
  
Tristan looked up at Taerro.  
  
"Here I am?" he repeated, unsure.  
  
Taerro nodded.  
  
"Yeah, you fell into a wall and then ran off yelling that we were possessed or something," Taerro laughed. "Are you okay?"  
  
Tristan rubbed his head.  
  
"I did?" he asked in a confused tone.  
  
Bakura nodded, Yami Bakura understanding what was going on now.  
  
"Yes, Tristan. Mokuba went after you as well, to see where you were going. We heard a noise down this hallway, and had to check it out first," he lied. "I'm glad you're all right."  
  
Tristan scratched his head.  
  
"Weird," he muttered to himself. "I don't remember any of that now."  
  
Tea blinked.  
  
"Maybe that conk on the head did something to your memory..." she guessed as Yugi stood there, quietly.   
  
  
  
Yugi narrowed his eyes. Something was off with Bakura and Taerro, and he was determined to find out what.  
  
And from up higher, if anyone had bothered to look up, Priest Seto was watching, also thinking hard, wondering what to do about their newest problems.  
  
**********  
  
Later that evening, everyone turned into bed earlier than usual. The gang finally all made it back to the dining hall, where Madam Christina explained, sadly, about her situation.  
  
Shadi's abduction and also, to everyone's shock, that a few of the more valuable of her antique collection, and more specifically, ones she was going to take to the festival had been taken by the group during the invasion.  
  
Now, as 8:46 rolled around, the entire house was silent. Mokuba was sound asleep in his bed next to Seto, and Seto himself was lying in bed, thinking about the invasion.  
  
Priest Seto hadn't returned since Seto had left the bedroom with Amber and Joey earlier that day, but Seto wasn't concerned. After all, Priest Seto was a spirit, and with a White Dragon at his disposal he was sure that he could take care of himself...at least for the time being.  
  
Duke, Joey, and Yugi had gone to sleep, although Yami was awake and thinking, thoughts of the day spinning through his mind. So much had happened in just a few short hours that it was hard to soak everything in so quickly.  
  
Tristan was asleep in the same room with Bakura and Taerro, so he was having trouble falling asleep, worrying about the recent events. Especially since he believed he had slight amnesia.  
  
As soon as Tristan was safely asleep, however, Taerro stood up and walked downstairs, fully dressed with his backpack on his shoulder. (Or rather, on Taerro's shoulder)  
  
As he walked downstairs, he heard soft talking from the dining room. Reaching the bottom, he leaned into the room slightly, the light from the chandelier gleaming off of his glasses.  
  
"I'm sure the police will be able to find your brother," Bob reassured Madam Christina, who was picking at a spot on her hardwood table.  
  
She sighed.  
  
"Yes...I do hope so," she replied sadly. "I suppose I'll have to go over to the festival tomorrow after all. One of the pieces I'd originally promised to bring was taken this afternoon."  
  
Bob nodded solemnly.  
  
She sighed and forced a sad smile.  
  
"You know, I also gave a few pieces to the festival to borrow a few days ago, as they wanted them out for the longest period of time possible," she began. "One of them was the going-away present Shadi gave me all those years ago when I left home."  
  
Yami Taerro's ears perked up. He'd heard vaguely about Shadi during the talk at lunch, and anything that had to do with a Millennium Item owner was news to him. He listened closely as she continued.  
  
"Oh?" Bob asked, curiously.  
  
She nodded.  
  
"Yes..." she sighed. "It was a golden medallion. He told me to watch it carefully, so I figured it must be pretty important. I made the festival employees promise to keep it locked up in its glass case the entire time. I think now, with this group of thieves running around, I might want to go and take it home."  
  
"I understand," Bob agreed with a nod.  
  
Yami Taerro's mouth flipped up into an evil grin as he walked toward the back door. He'd heard all he needed to hear to know what his next goal was.  
  
"That medallion the woman spoke of is most likely much more than she believes," he chuckled, walking silently out the door. "And I for one will go to collect it, and find out for myself what it really is."  
  
He chuckled to himself as he walked down the driveway and across the wet lawn by himself.  
  
**********  
  
Seto rolled over in his bed, sighing as he lay down on his bruised chest. Tired as he was, he couldn't sleep for some reason. Too many thoughts were whirling through his mind.  
  
First Stella was now after them, or perhaps just Madam Christina's artifacts, again, then, the priest saves him with a White Dragon...  
  
Seto sighed once more. As much as he was inwardly grateful for the priest saving his life, he felt somehow...weakened by having to be protected by him. Just in his mind. To finally put himself at peace once again, he decided, he would have to defeat Stella and see to it that she, and her crew of thugs were put behind bars.  
  
**********  
  
"Priest..." Came the same soft and mellow voice in Priest Seto's mind as he floated down the hallway.  
  
"Yes, Bastet?" he asked, curiously, although also somewhat irritated.   
  
He was a tad tired of her always giving him more to do, when he was already doing several things.  
  
"I have sensed an imbalance in the Millennium Destiny," she purred through the mental link. "Although neither I nor the Egyptian woman Ishizu could detect what was exactly going on. Do you know?"  
  
Imbalance? This may have something to do with the abduction of the reincarnate of Shadi he'd heard of...  
  
"Yes, I do," he replied calmly. "I believe that Shadi's reincarnate has been abducted, and his Millennium Key has been put in the hands of an evil group."  
  
He growled, knowing that once again, a Millennium Item was in the hands of evil, something that was NEVER supposed to have happened.  
  
Bastet nodded to herself.  
  
"I see," she replied. "And I am assuming the Pharaoh and the others are doing something about this as well?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
"All right. If you need assistance, contact me," she replied. "And Seto,"  
  
Priest Seto raised an eyebrow.  
  
"Yes?"  
  
"You figured it out, didn't you?" she asked slyly, before cutting off contact.  
  
Priest Seto smiled to himself.  
  
~~Soon you will realize your true abilites...~~  
  
Yes, he had figured it out. At least, he thought, to a certain extend. But hardly that would be able to defeat the evil lurking around on its own...  
  
***********  
  
End of Chapter 9  
  
Review to find out what happens next!  
  
"Yep! Thanks for reading!" 


	10. Chapter 10: Fun and Games and Thievery

Chapter 10: Fun and Games...and Thievery  
  
Notes: Hm, interesting title eh?  
  
"Yeah, yeah, just get to the story. :P"  
  
_ Ok! Here we go!  
  
********  
  
Chapter 10: Fun and Games...and Thievery  
  
Yugi awoke the next morning still tired, worn out from a conversation with Yami in the puzzle during the night.  
  
"I agree with Yami," he thought, putting the puzzle around his neck again, the cold metal chain stinging his neck slightly. "Something strange is going on with Bakura, Taerro, and Tristan. And Shadi being abducted...who knows what can happen with the Millennium Key in someone else's hands? We need to start to do something about all this."  
  
He got up out of his bed as Duke woke up as well, rubbing his eyes sleeping as he glanced over at the clock that was hanging on the walls across from him.  
  
"Yugi...it's only 7:34..." he muttered, forcing himself out of bed as well.  
  
Joey, however, made no indication that he'd heard either of the two and continued snoring. Duke rolled his eyes.  
  
"I know," Yugi replied brightly, smiling. "But we've got a lot to do today, especially with figured all these problems out. Starting with Taerro and Bakura."  
  
Duke shrugged.  
  
"If you ask me, I think that something's up with Kaiba too," he mumbled. "I mean, yesterday, he was all beat up, but when the attackers were about to finish him off, a huge white dragon appeared out of nowhere and scared the guys off."  
  
Yugi looked up, startled.  
  
"What? How can Kaiba summon a real dragon like that?" Yugi asked out loud.  
  
Duke shrugged as Yami appeared beside Yugi, narrowing his eyes.  
  
"Perhaps, aibou, it was not Kaiba who summoned it...but the priest..." he muttered, trailing off into his own thoughts.  
  
Yugi shook his head.  
  
"We'll deal with that later," he told both Yami and Duke. "For now, let's just get dressed and see what the plan is for today."  
  
Duke nodded, pulling up the flap of his suitcase and rummaging around inside for his vest.  
  
***********  
  
"Man...so who is this Shadi guy anyway?" Amber yawned as Tea buttoned her shirt up in front of the mirror, so not to miss one accidentally.  
  
Tea shrugged.  
  
"Well, I just remember that Pegasus had a painting of him up in his castle, and that he was the one who, I guess, gave Pegasus the Millennium Eye," she replied.  
  
Amber sighed.  
  
"How many of those Millennium Items are there anyway?" she asked, standing up tiredly.  
  
"Hm, there's the Rod, Puzzle, and Necklace, Yugi has those right now, the Ring, which Bakura has, the Key, which Shadi has...and the eye USED to belong to Pegasus, but I don't know where it is now," Tea said, counting them off on her fingers. "And the last one...well, I know there's a seventh, but I can't remember what it is or who owns it."  
  
I'll have to ask Yugi later, she thought to herself.  
  
"Oh," Amber muttered, pulling out a hot-pink shirt and black jeans, her favorite clothing combination, and also, her amber pendant that she always wore around her neck.  
  
  
  
No one had ever really asked her why, though.  
  
"Well, I'm going to get dressed and see if anyone else is up," she said, carrying her pile of clothing to the door. "See you later, Tea!"  
  
Tea smiled after her.  
  
"See you," she called after her.  
  
**********  
  
Seto sighed as the bright morning light streamed in through the open window of his and Mokuba's room. It was the start of another day in Madam Christina's mansion...and perhaps a day at the festival.  
  
He got up and looked through his things for something to wear for the day as Priest Seto floated in through the wall.  
  
"What are you doing?" Priest Seto asked, startling Seto a bit, and causing to whirl around before he realized it was only the ancient spirit.  
  
He sighed.  
  
"Getting ready for the day," he muttered, picking up his purple jacket and a black shirt.  
  
Priest Seto nodded.  
  
"I see," he agreed. "Are you all going to the ancient festival today?"  
  
Seto shrugged as he walked over to the door.  
  
"I don't know," he replied pulling the door open.  
  
Priest Seto narrowed his eyes at his reincarnate. Seto seemed much more preoccupied than usual...something that wasn't a good sign.  
  
**********  
  
"You...what?" Stella asked in disbelief as she sat at the front of a business-like office in a small house a bit of a drive from Madam Christina's house.  
  
Her employees were standing in front of her, looking battle-worn and tired.  
  
"We were...uh...scared off by..." One started.  
  
"A giant dragon," The last filled in, looking ashamed.  
  
Stella laughed.  
  
"A giant DRAGON?" she chuckled, then her eyes narrowed and she frowned angrily. "You expect me to believe that?"  
  
"And something weird was going on with Jeff, too," One said, pointing to the man Priest Seto had possessed for a bit.  
  
Jeff nodded.  
  
"Yeah, I felt like I was possessed or something," he explained. "Something, or someone, was making me attack the others."  
  
Stella put her hand to her chin thoughtfully. She'd heard on the news about the brave efforts of the Ghostbusters and a group of teenagers with somewhat magical powers, including one whom witnesses claimed to have seen him draw power from a pendant around his neck.  
  
From the picture on the screen, she had recognized Seto Kaiba and his brother, and Ryou Bakura, the other boy that the old crime organization had kidnapped for ransom.  
  
(After the leaders of that organization were arrested, Stella had taken the remainder of the followers and recruited them to her cause.)  
  
"Perhaps Seto Kaiba is involved with the so-called magic-enhanced group that stopped a ghost," she purred to herself, pacing back and forth up front of the room, the others watching anxiously.  
  
"If this is so, I believe I have a solution," she informed the others. "In addition to stealing the rare artifacts from the festival coming up, also corner the members of that group and take any pendant or necklace of some sort away from them before attempting to silence them. They have interfered with my plans for the last time."  
  
"Stella, do you think that the ankh necklace we took from that Egyptian dude has...magic powers as well?" Jim asked.  
  
Stella grinned, pulling it out of a cubby on the wall. She tossed it at him, and he caught it with ease.  
  
"Go give it test-drive while you're out," she said with an evil wink.  
  
"Gotcha," he replied. "So when do we set out for this fair?"  
  
Stella grinned.  
  
"You boys head on out now, but try to spread out," she instructed. "I'll join you later and we'll make our move toward the evening."  
  
  
  
**********  
  
Half an hour later, the gang was all sitting at the breakfast table, with the exception of Taerro.  
  
"Hey, where's Taerro?" Tea asked, looking around at the empty chair.  
  
Yami Bakura, disguising himself behind Bakura's sweet accent and appearance, looking at the empty chair.  
  
"Oh, he decided to go out for a while. He said he knew someone around here and was going to the festival early," he explained, lying, of course, as he had no idea where Taerro was, or what Yami Taerro was planning.  
  
Tea narrowed her eyes suspiciously.  
  
"That's weird," she muttered to Yugi, who yawned and nearly dropped the plate of eggs as Joey passed them to him.  
  
"Whoa!" he cried, grabbing the plate, sending a few pieces falling to the table. "Next time warn me first, Joey!"  
  
Joey grinned sheepishly as he dug into his own plate of food, which was piled high with nearly everything on the table.  
  
"Sawry Ugi," he said through a mouthful.  
  
Amber rolled her eyes as she sat down next to Duke, across the table from Yugi, Tea, and Joey.  
  
"And save some for us," Duke remarked, looking at a plate of crumbs, which had previously held a stack of toast.  
  
Seto made no comment, and was staring down at his own breakfast lost in thought. Mokuba noticed this, and looked up at his brother, curiously.  
  
"Something wrong, niisama?" he asked, cocking his head.  
  
Seto smiled quickly.  
  
"No, no, just thinking," he said before falling back into his thoughts again.  
  
Yugi looked up at Madam Christina, who was smiling, although the smile looked more forced than before, Mr. Taylor and the driver, who were engaged in conversation, and Mr. Zaliki who was writing something on a sheet of paper.  
  
"Mr. Zaliki?" Yugi inquired, his eyes curiously watching his teacher. "Are we heading up to the festival today?"  
  
  
  
Mr. Zaliki nodded.  
  
"Yes, the bus has just been repaired and we'll be heading out shortly after breakfast," he replied. "Hopefully, there'll still be rooms left at the hotel we were scheduled to stay at last night."  
  
Madam Christina looked up at this.  
  
"Oh you're all more than welcome to stay another night," she said quickly, smiling. "It's no trouble at all."  
  
Mr. Zaliki frowned, though he made no reply to the offer.  
  
"I was planning to go up to the festival myself today," she explained to the others. "Would it be a bother if I came along with you all?"  
  
Yugi smiled.  
  
"Not at all," he said, shooting a glance at his teacher, who simply sighed.  
  
"Yes, there's an extra space now that Taerro isn't riding with us," he said, looking around worriedly. "Bakura, did he tell you the name of his relative?"  
  
Bakura shook his head innocently.  
  
"No, he just got up early and said he'd meet us at the fair later," he explained.  
  
Tristan sighed and Yami narrowed his eyes from where he was standing, beside Yugi. Taerro just left like that? That wasn't like him at all. Surely, something had to be wrong. Both with him, and Bakura...  
  
Priest Seto looked over at Yami.  
  
"What do you think of this, Pharaoh?" he asked, cautiously, knowing the Pharaoh still probably didn't trust him.  
  
Yami looked up, skeptically, but sighed. There was no point in starting a fight.  
  
"I believe the evil Bakura is back, as well as an evil spirit that had previously possessed Taerro," he explained. "And I also sense a great power nearby."  
  
Priest Seto nodded.  
  
"A Millennium Item..." he suggested. "With the key in the hands of evil, there's no telling what can happen.  
  
Yami nodded in agreement, surprising even himself.  
  
Mr. Zaliki stood up and clapped his hands together.  
  
"All right!" he called, looking around at everyone, most of whom had finished their breakfast already. "Let's go! Out to the bus. We're leaving in five minutes."  
  
Everyone started to get up, pushing in their chairs and handing their plates to Bob, who was still on his job.  
  
Madam Christina got up as well.  
  
  
  
"I'm going to run and get my papers for the articles I'd loaned the festival real quick," she explained hurrying from the room.  
  
Joey, however, was still absorbing in finishing his toast. Seto sighed, standing up.  
  
"There'll be plenty of food at the festival, Wheeler," he said tiredly, as he and Mokuba walked toward the door.  
  
"Hurry it up," Priest Seto added, though Joey couldn't hear him.  
  
"Gimme a second..." Joey muttered, taking a gulp of juice before sprinting after his friends. "Wait up!"  
  
**********  
  
Ten minutes later, the gang was on the bus and heading toward the festival, their wheel fully repaired. Joey and Tristan were both sitting in the back again, and Bakura had gotten the lovely privilege of sitting next to Mr. Taylor, something which Yami Bakura found extremely irritating.  
  
Mr. Zaliki was sitting next to Madam Christina, who didn't seem to be minding the slightly bumpy ride, and the others were all in their same seats. Bob had told Madam Christina he would drive up a bit later in the day.  
  
"99 bottles of beer on the wall..." Joey started, but Tristan clamped a hand over his mouth quickly, before Mr. Zaliki could look in the back or Tristan's dad could comment on the singing.  
  
"Not this time, Joey," he muttered, as Joey shoved Tristan's hand off.  
  
"Aa...fine," Joey grumbled, putting his chin in his hand and leaning against the bus window. "Another long drive ahead of us."  
  
"Not really," Amber replied, turning around and leaning over the seat. "I mean, it's only about 30 minutes away. That's not too bad."  
  
"Sit down, Miss Johnson," Mr. Zaliki snapped.  
  
  
  
Amber scowled and sat back down next to Duke.  
  
"Now I really do wish this ride were over," she muttered.  
  
Duke nodded.  
  
"Me too," he agreed.  
  
"And me as well," Seto thought to himself, staring out the window.  
  
**********  
  
End of Chapter 10  
  
"Review! Review!"  
  
And next chapter up soon! 


	11. Chapter 11: A Day at the Fair

Chapter 11: A Day at the Fair  
  
Notes: ^_^ Oo, fun and exciting chappie ahead.  
  
"Yeah...so let's get going with it already!"  
  
Patience, Red. We have questions to answer. First of all, for Birdee: Joey singing his song? ^_^ Well, maybe if Mr. Zaliki ever decides to wear ear-plugs on the bus. Seto wanting to take on the bad-guys? Oh yeah. He's a bit irritated at having to be rescued, but he's not going to do something stupid. Seto getting beat up? Well...not this chapter but in the others...^_~  
  
"And Yami Yugi pick a fight with the priest? Hm...he should!"  
  
^_^ And I meant to make the whole Jim being part of the criminal group thing a bit more obvious, but I guess I messed up. :-S  
  
"Anyway, Chapter 11 at your service!"  
  
***********  
  
Chapter 11: A Day at the Fair  
  
The bus finally lurched to a stop in the parking lot of an open-air festival, with colorful booths and displays filling the majority of the land beside the parking lot.  
  
The bus driver paid for parking, and a few minutes later, the bus was parked and everyone was standing up, more than ready to get off of the bus.  
  
"Everyone get out in an orderly fashion, and I'll explain what we'll be doing today when we get off the bus," Mr. Zaliki instructed as the gang filed off the bus.  
  
Tea caught sight of a few of their friends from school milling around an examining the items on tables at various booths as Madam Christina walked past her.  
  
"I'm going to the front office," she announced. "Did anyone else need to go there?"  
  
The driver nodded.  
  
"Yes...I needed to go there anyway because I...have to ask a question," he said, though Yugi could tell he was only making an excuse.  
  
But he was glad. Yugi didn't want Madam Christina to go anywhere alone...not after the previous night's events.  
  
"Now," Mr. Zaliki said loudly as Madam Christina and the driver walked away. "You'll be in two groups. One group will be with me, and the other with Mr. Taylor."  
  
  
  
Mr. Taylor beamed proudly. Tristan sunk down next to Joey.  
  
"I hope you get my dad," he muttered to Joey, knowing he was probably going to get in his father's group as well.  
  
"Me too," Joey muttered, eyeing Mr. Zaliki suspiciously. "Who'd want to spend the afternoon with the teacher?"  
  
"Okay, Taylor, Wheeler, Yugi, Miss Gardner, and Taerro...when we find him...will go with Mr. Taylor," Mr. Zaliki announced. "Seto and Mokuba Kaiba, Miss Johnson, Devlin, and Bakura will be with me."  
  
Amber scowled and crossed her arms, angrily.  
  
"Great..." Duke muttered, kicking a pebble that was on the ground.  
  
Mr. Zaliki glanced down at his watch, checking the time.  
  
"All right! Meet back at the center tent at 12:30 sharp for lunch," he instructed. "Now, be sure to take notes on the exhibits, as you will be quizzed on this later."  
  
  
  
Amber gulped.  
  
"Hopefully I'll be able to READ the quiz by then..." she thought anxiously to herself.  
  
"Come on kids!" Mr. Taylor announced, walking toward an ancient Greek pottery exhibit. "Let's start here and make our way through, shall we?"  
  
Tristan groaned.  
  
"Fine dad," he replied as Joey, Yugi, and Tea followed him toward the stand.  
  
Yugi, however, looked around at the crowd, rather than at the pottery as Mr. Taylor asked the woman tending to the exhibit to give a "brief" history of the items shown.  
  
"Where is Taerro...?" he muttered, glancing from left to right as Yami appeared beside him.  
  
"Yugi...I sense something dangerous nearby," he announced, turning to face his partner. "I think it would be best if I stayed out in spirit form to watch things during your tour through."  
  
Yugi nodded.  
  
"And be on the lookout for any suspicious men, especially like the ones Madam Christina described from last night," he added.  
  
Yami nodded.  
  
"Ah," he replied.  
  
***********  
  
Meanwhile, over in the Egyptian temple of the gods, Thoth, the ibis-headed god was writing on a scroll over in the corner of the temple. Bastet was staring out the window carved into the wall, lost in thought.  
  
"Probably contacting her messenger again," Thoth thought to himself, finishing up the last hieroglyph on the page when an enormous crash on the stone floor caused him to glance over the top of his scroll.  
  
Bastet whirled around, hissing, as a stone statue fell to the floor, and a dark-looking god walked into the room, with a jackal's head and white, evil eyes which were fixated on Thoth and Bastet.  
  
"Anubis..." Bastet hissed, arching her cat back. (She seldom took the form of a human with a cat's head, preferring to remain a black cat with a silver collar most of the time.)  
  
Anubis simply snarled in reply, his white teeth gleaming in the little sunshine that was shining in through the window.  
  
"Anubis please, I must ask you not to go on another rampage," Thoth said politely, looking back down at his scroll, not moving from the corner. "I'm in the middle of recording some things, and Bastet is doing a bit of research."  
  
Bastet hissed.  
  
"And we don't need to be interrupted by you," she snapped, turning her back on the jackal.  
  
"Is that so?" Anubis snarled, clenching his clawed hands.  
  
Ever since an attempt to win the powers of Egypt had failed, he'd been in a foul mood around Bastet and Thoth, as they were the one's who had stopped him, whenever he walked by them.  
  
Bastet narrowed her eyes.  
  
"It is," she said silkily. "And it just so happens that..."  
  
She trailed off, causing Thoth to look up at her.  
  
"Is something the matter?" he asked, his beady eyes fixated on his feline friend.  
  
Bastet closed her eyes and shook her head tragically.  
  
"It seems that there is more than one of the powerful items in the hands of evil..." she said with a sigh. "And I fear that something terrible is going to happen."  
  
Anubis laughed and Thoth shot him a death-glare.  
  
"What can we do about this?" he asked Bastet, tilting his head.  
  
Bastet sighed again.  
  
"I'm not sure..." she muttered.  
  
***********  
  
Seto looked around the festival, eyes narrowed, as a group of younger children ran past his group. Amber and Duke were somewhat paying attention to what Mr. Zaliki was saying, and Mokuba seemed downright bored with the whole thing, as did Bakura.  
  
"I saw enough of those stupid drawings back when I was alive," Yami Bakura muttered to himself as they passed some Egyptian murals.  
  
"What was that, Bakura?" Duke asked, slowing up a little to walk with him.  
  
Yami Bakura immediately switched back to Bakura's innocent voice and smiled up at Duke with his large eyes.  
  
"Oh, nothing, I was just saying to myself how fascinating it all is," he lied, closing his eyes with a smile.  
  
Duke raised an eyebrow.  
  
"Oh...uh...okay," he replied, hurrying to catch up to Amber again, who was now fiddling around in her pocket with her amber-colored marbles, her pendant flopping around on her chest as she walked.  
  
Yami Bakura narrowed his eyes again as soon as Duke looked away.  
  
"Stupid mortal," he muttered, frowning.  
  
Priest Seto, sensing dark magic, turning quickly to face Yami Bakura, but he looked away just as the priest spotted a difference in his eyes.  
  
"Seto...did you notice..." he asked quietly, looking down at Seto. "Did you notice a difference in Bakura just now?"  
  
Seto narrowed his eyes and peered over at the white-hared boy, but his eyes had gone back to the wide and watery type, Bakura's normal eyes.  
  
Seto shook his head.  
  
"No, why?" he asked, suspicious.  
  
Priest Seto frowned.  
  
"Nothing..." he muttered as Seto, Mokuba, Duke, Amber, Bakura, and Mr. Zaliki moved on to a Roman exhibit.  
  
Seto glanced around, looking for any sign of Stella, or any of her men. Knowing them, they were sure to show up at this festival with all the old and rare antiques about; it was like a gold mine to them. Only this time, Seto was ready...  
  
Priest Seto, however, remained floating in mid-air, still staring after Bakura. A strange atmosphere was hanging in the air, causing an eerie feeling to cross over Priest Seto.  
  
So many evils...he thought to himself. But where are they all, and what do they want?  
  
**********  
  
Madam Christina walked up to the front desk in the only building on the whole lot. It was air-conditioned and neatly kept, though small, apparently only housing a few offices during a normal business day.  
  
Besides the driver and herself, and the woman at the front desk, the room was empty. The woman, a black-hared and brown eyed girl in her twenties, looked up at Madam Christina with a welcoming smile.  
  
"Hello," she said cheerfully, flashing a smile at the driver as well. "Is there something I can help you with?"  
  
Madam Christina returned the smile briefly before setting down her papers.  
  
"Yes," she said, pointing to the photo-copied picture of the medallion on the top page. "My name is Christina and I had loaned a few exceptionally important pieces to the owners of this festival, allowing them to showcase them for a few days during the fair," she explained.  
  
The woman nodded.  
  
"Yes?" she asked, still smiling.  
  
"Well, due to...circumstances, I'm sorry to have to do this, but I'd like to request to have them back," Madam Christina said with a sigh.  
  
The woman looked puzzled.  
  
"Is there something wrong, ma'am?" she asked, tilting her head to the side as she examined the page on the medallion.  
  
Madam Christina sighed and let her shoulders fall.  
  
"I'm afraid there is," she replied sadly. "Would it be possible to get the medallion back today? Now, if possible?"  
  
The woman fished through her pages of schedules, and finally pulled out one printed in black ink on hot pink paper.  
  
"Um...well, could you wait until 4:30?" she asked pleadingly, glancing up at Madam Christina and the driver, who had remained silent this entire time. "It's the main attraction in a show this afternoon, and the company would hate to not have it for its big event."  
  
Madam Christina inwardly sighed, but forced a small smile to the woman.  
  
"No, no, that's alright. I'll just enjoy the show until then," she said, although personally, she knew she wouldn't enjoy anything until Shadi was found and the criminals brought to justice.  
  
The woman at the desk sighed with relief.  
  
"Thank you so much, Madam," she said with a genuine smile. "Would you like a schedule?"  
  
Madam Christina took one.  
  
"Yes, thank you," she said, putting it in her large handbag. "I suppose that's all I need. Thank you for your time."  
  
"Not at all!" The woman at the desk replied, turning around to answer a phone-call as Madam Christina walked toward the door.  
  
"I suppose I'll just have to wait around until I can get my medallion back," she thought as she stepped outside again, with the driver close behind her, as a black car pulled into the parking lot behind a large green van.  
  
She sighed, turning back to the festival.  
  
"I may as well find Yugi and his little friends," she thought, walking back toward the fair as the sky darkened overhead.  
  
**********  
  
Meanwhile, Yami Taerro peered out from behind a corner of the building. He looked right, and left, and grinned at seeing no sign of Yugi, Mr. Zaliki, or anyone who would recognize him.  
  
"They must not be here yet..." he thought gleefully, pulling out a park map that he'd been giving on his entrance into the fair. "Now, to find the medallion..."  
  
"Taerro!"  
  
Yami Taerro looked up, irritated, as Yugi and Tea came running toward him, Mr. Taylor, Tristan, and Joey following them. He hissed, shoving his map back into his pocket as the group approached.  
  
"Taerro!" Tea cried, stopping short in front of him, panting slightly. "Where have you been? We were worried."  
  
Yami Taerro forced an innocent smile.  
  
"My relative dropped me off here," he lied quickly. "I noticed your bus in the parking lot and was coming to find you all."  
  
Mr. Taylor adjusted his glasses.  
  
"Well, it's good to have the whole team here..." he started, but trailed off, looking at the dark, threatening sky. "Especially since it looks like it might rain again."  
  
Yami Taerro forced a happy nod.  
  
"Yes, yes, that's wonderful," he said cheerily. "Now, let's start looking at those exhibits!"  
  
Yugi nodded.  
  
"Right!" Joey declared, pointing toward a booth in the middle of the "neighborhood" they were in at the festival. "Let's visit that one!"  
  
Yugi squinted to read the lettering on the top of the booth.  
  
"Food Served...Here?" Tristan asked, raising an eyebrow, but Joey nudged him.  
  
"Look, we could all use a break from your dad's blabbing," Joey muttered. "Let's eat!" he declared, running toward the booth.  
  
Tea shook her head and clucked her tongue.  
  
"Boys," she muttered as she and Yugi ran after Joey and Tristan, who'd taken off with his friend, leaving Yami Taerro and Mr. Taylor to chase after them.  
  
"But boys! Don't you want to see the medieval exhibit first?" Mr. Taylor yelled after them.  
  
***********  
  
Priest Seto looked as the wind began to blow, and the sky began to grow even darker. Nearly everyone in Mr. Zaliki's group had gotten bored after the first exhibit and now everyone was trudging along after him.  
  
"Mr. Zaliki? Can we go eat lunch or something?" Amber asked as her hair blew back into her face.  
  
She pushed it away, irritated, as Duke sighed.  
  
"No, we've still got another half hour until we're due back," Mr. Zaliki replied, looking at his schedule. "Looks like there's a pottery painting exhibit show up ahead. We'll watch that before lunch."  
  
Mokuba groaned.  
  
"This is so boring," he muttered, slumping down as Mr. Zaliki ran forward toward the tent, hoping to get seats for the group.  
  
"Know the feeling," Seto replied, still paying more attention to the crowd than the exhibits.  
  
Amber narrowed her eyes as she spotted a small flash of lightning in the distance.  
  
"And it looks like another rainstorm is headed our way too," she grumbled.  
  
Duke shrugged, twirling a piece of his hair around his finger.  
  
"I guess today's just not our day," he sighed.  
  
Yami Bakura narrowed his eyes and turned away from the group. Somehow, he'd have to be able to break away from everyone else and find Yami Taerro...and figure out what he was really up to.  
  
"Come on kids!" Mr. Zaliki called, waving from the tent as he held up some tickets.  
  
Amber sighed and started forward, but was nearly knocked over by a man in a black coat, with the collar pulled up high.  
  
"Watch it kid," the man growled as he and another man, who was similarly dressed, stalked by.  
  
Amber blinked, staring after the men. Could it have been...she thought, but was interrupted as Duke tugged on her shoulder.  
  
"Come on, Amber," he said, pulling her along.  
  
Seto, however, narrowed his eyes at the two men. They were part of the gang, he thought.  
  
"What are you doing?" Priest Seto inquired as Seto walked away from the rest of the group.  
  
"Going somewhere," he said plainly. "Stay with Mokuba."  
  
**********  
  
End of Chapter 11  
  
^_^ Yay! Seto's going to get some revenge!  
  
"Er...you think he can do it by himself?"  
  
:o  
  
"^_^;; Never mind. Just review people, and then we'll get the next chapter up soon. Please? Thanks!" 


	12. Chapter 12: Power in the Wrong Hands

Chapter 12: Power in the Wrong Hands  
  
Notes: ^_^ I love this chapter title.  
  
"Me too, but I'll love the story even more. :P"  
  
Good! Cause here comes chapter 12!  
  
***********  
  
Chapter 12: Power in the Wrong Hands  
  
"Going somewhere?" Priest Seto inquired, hovering in the middle of the path toward the performance tent. "But..."  
  
"Just stay with Mokuba," Seto replied, walking away and disappearing into the crowd.  
  
Priest Seto narrowed his eyes after his reincarnate.  
  
"He's going to get himself killed," he sighed, shaking his head at the foolish boy.  
  
**********  
  
Meanwhile, the two men in the black coats were walking quickly ahead, far ahead of Seto, who had lost track of them in the crowd. The two men stalked past the food tent, causing one of them to stop.  
  
"Mm..." he muttered, sniffing the scented air. "Can we stop and get lunch before heading back to the headquarters?" he asked the other.  
  
The other rolled his eyes and tugged his partner along.  
  
"Forget it," he snapped. "We can't be seen out in public for long," he hissed as they walked past a tray of jewelry, which was on display, the owner of the display talking to some other people.  
  
The man pocketed a blue necklace as they continued on their way through.  
  
***********  
  
Yugi looked up from his plate of grilled fish to see the two men walking toward the woods that was near the clearing on which the fair was taking place at the moment.  
  
He narrowed his eyes and watched them carefully walk into a thicket of trees.  
  
"Yugi...those are the men from last night," Yami informed Yugi, appearing beside him. "They must be going to a headquarters or hideout, otherwise why would they be going in the woods?"  
  
Yugi's eyes widened and he nodded, standing up quickly and spilling his juice on the table.  
  
"Yugi!" Tea cried, looking up, concerned. "What is it?"  
  
Yugi pushed back his chair and ran toward the exit of the booth.  
  
"I have to find out where they're going," he thought to himself, walking outside again. "Maybe Shadi is with them!"  
  
"Yugi!" Tea screamed as she stood up as well, wondering why Yugi so suddenly took off without explaining where he was going.  
  
Tea ran toward the door as well.  
  
"I'm going to find Yugi!" she called back to her friends, hoping they wouldn't come running after her as well.  
  
Joey blinked. Tristan raised an eyebrow and Mr. Taylor looked up from his plate.  
  
"Where did Yugi and Tea go?" he asked, looking at the others.  
  
Yami Taerro simply shrugged.  
  
*********  
  
Meanwhile, Yugi ran toward the woods as fast as he could go, not thinking about what his friends were wondering back at the restaurant.  
  
"Yami!" he thought to his friend as they neared the woods. "Do you think that they will lead us to Shadi?"  
  
Yami, beside him in spirit form, narrowed his eyes as he looked ahead at the path they were about to go down.  
  
"Perhaps..." he replied.  
  
"Yugi!"  
  
Yugi, hearing his name, slowed up a tad, and peered behind him, to see Tea running toward him.  
  
"Yugi!" she gasped again, catching up and pausing to catch her breath. Yu...gi...where are you...going?!"  
  
Yugi looked determinedly toward the woods.  
  
"I saw part of that crime gang walk into the forest," he said, narrowing his eyes in determination. "Maybe they'll lead us to Shadi...or the Millennium Key."  
  
Tea nodded, now understanding.  
  
"So you're going after them?" she asked.  
  
Yugi nodded.  
  
Tea shook her head as well.  
  
"Then I'm coming with you!" she declared. "I can't let you do this alone."  
  
Yugi was about to protest, but stopped himself and smiled.  
  
"Thanks, Tea," he replied, and the two hurried off down the path.  
  
**********  
  
Joey was digging into his last hamburger when a strong current blew by, taking his plate with it, sending it soaring across the field.  
  
"Whoa!" Joey cried through a mouthful, hurrying after the plate as Tristan and his father stood up with Taerro.  
  
"Well, while Joey's getting his dish, we may as well go back to the beginning so Taerro can see some of the exhibits he missed," Mr. Taylor announced as they passed the old alley Yami Taerro had been hiding in when they found him.  
  
Yami Taerro narrowed his eyes in anger.  
  
"You fools have done enough," he snapped, a gold binding forming around them, causing both Tristan and Mr. Taylor to gasp.  
  
"What the heck...?!" Mr. Taylor cried, fighting against the strong magical bonds.  
  
Fortunately for Yami Taerro, no one was looking their way as Yami Taerro used his powers to move Mr. Taylor and Tristan down to the back of the long and dark alley, away from everyone else.  
  
"I knew something was up with you," Tristan growled as Yami Taerro smiled down at them, with his evil grin.  
  
Mr. Taylor laughed nervously.  
  
"Er...Tristan? Is this a game you kids play?" he asked, sweating.  
  
Tristan sighed, struggling against the bonds, but giving up right away. After the experience with Yami Bakura, which he was slowly remembering, he figured he and his dad, unfortunately, wouldn't be breaking out anytime soon.  
  
"No, dad this isn't a game," He sighed, decided he may as well try to explain about the evil spirits to his dad. "This is an evil spirit who possesses Taerro and tries to steal things to get power."  
  
Yami Taerro grinned.  
  
"That's right, mortals," he snarled, turning to walk away. "I hope you're comfortable. You'll be staying there for a long, long time."  
  
"Get back here!" Tristan growled, but Yami Taerro paid no attention, and continued walking away. "Taerro!!"  
  
Mr. Taylor tried to turn his head to face Tristan, but found the magical bonds were too tight.  
  
"Tristan?" he asked feebly. "What's going on?"  
  
Tristan wearily sighed.  
  
"Got some time on your hands?" he joked.  
  
**********  
  
Priest Seto narrowed his eyes as he looked out of the tent that Mr. Zaliki's group was watching the pottery show inside of.  
  
"Something..." he muttered, floating outside, sensing a magical disturbance. "Something has broken free..."  
  
He looked ahead, but turned back toward the tent for a moment. Mokuba was bored, watching the pottery show next to Amber and Mr. Zaliki.  
  
"He won't miss me for a second," Priest Seto thought, hurrying to find out who it was that he was sensing.   
  
As the priest floated away, Yami Bakura watched him, curiously.  
  
"Where is that spirit going...?" he thought to himself, standing up as well, and heading for the exit.  
  
"Where are you going, Bakura?" Mr. Zaliki hissed, turning around and frowning at the white-hared boy.  
  
Bakura grinned sheepishly.  
  
"I'm...er...going to find the restroom," he lied, giving an innocent smile.  
  
Mr. Zaliki rolled his eyes and sighed.  
  
"Hurry back," he said, turning around and returning to watching the pottery show.  
  
"Sure thing!" Bakura called, Yami Bakura inwardly chuckling as he ran after the priest's spirit.  
  
***********  
  
Seto squinted as another strong blow of wind sent debris from the trees flying into the crowd's faces. He'd lost sight of the two men from before, and the sky was now quite dark, and rain seemed like a very high possibility.  
  
"Darn," he thought, not seeing anyone he recognized anymore.  
  
He was about to turn around and head back to the pottery tent when someone caught his eye. It was another one of the black-coated people, and they looked quite familiar...  
  
"Jim," he thought, making his way through the crowd.   
  
If Jim were here, that would mean Stella would be around as well, and Seto wasn't going to let her go this time.  
  
**********  
  
Priest Seto looked around, following his senses as he floated through the crowds of people.   
  
"Where are you...?" he thought to himself, hoping to find the source of the magical energies.  
  
Suddenly, he looked straight forward and saw what he had been looking for. Taerro, possessed by the evil spirit of the ancient times, walked through the crowd, looking around suspiciously.  
  
"You!" Priest Seto called, pointing at Yami Taerro.  
  
Yami Taerro looked up at the priest, raising an eyebrow.  
  
"You want something, spirit?" he snapped, looking irritated.  
  
Priest Seto nodded.  
  
"I want to duel you," he replied, hoping the white dragon would be enough to defeat whatever monster Taerro would summon. "And if I win, you will leave this boy's body."  
  
He didn't have the Millennium Rod's magic to summon any other monsters; he only could summon his Ka.  
  
Yami Taerro grinned evilly, pulling out his deck.  
  
"So, it's a battle you want, it's a battle you'll get," Yami Taerro said cockily, merely glossing over his cards.  
  
Priest Seto narrowed his eyes. Something was wrong here...wrong and very familiar about this evil spirit inside Taerro. It was almost as though Priest Seto had met him before...  
  
**********  
  
Meanwhile, Yugi and Tea were walking down the path through the woods, staying far away from the two men, but keeping them in distance. Tea covered her mouth with her hands, just in case she accidentally gasped.  
  
Yugi watched with wide eyes as the two men walked up a steel-walled building, and pulled out a set of keys.  
  
"Let's go, we don't have all day," One said gruffly to the other as the door was opened and the two walked inside shutting it behind them.  
  
Yugi looked quickly up at Tea.  
  
"They're probably not going to lock it cause they're coming right back out," he hissed, running forward, the dried leaves crunching under his shoes as he ran. "This may be our only chance!"  
  
Tea nodded and hurried after him. A minute later, the two reached the door. Yugi pulled it open, and they ran inside, letting the door shut behind them.  
  
**********  
  
Seto crept along, watching Jim wander around ahead.   
  
I wonder why he keeps adjusting something around his neck...Seto thought to himself.  
  
He narrowed his eyes as he lost sight of Jim through the hustle and bustle of the crowded paths, just as he had lost sight of the two men from early. He walked out and peered behind an office building that was not part of the festival.  
  
It led down a dark alley and into a back-lot of the office building where dumpsters and old rusted equipment that the office wasn't using anymore, and no sign of Jim...  
  
Seto frowned and was about to turn around when a noise from the alley caused him to turn around, raising an eyebrow.  
  
"Hm..." he thought, walking down the alley and into the back-lot.  
  
He looked around, expecting to see a raccoon or some sort of rodent, but saw nothing. That is, until he heard a malevolent laugh from behind him, and he whirled around to see Stella standing there, at the end of the alley he'd just come from, alone.  
  
He narrowed his eyes in anger.  
  
"What do you want now?" he asked angrily, clenching his fists.  
  
She chuckled, walking forward, seemingly unarmed.  
  
"What I want right now, dear, is to get rid of you," she said silkily, narrowing her eyes and mouth into an evil smile.  
  
*********  
  
Amber, Duke, Mr. Zaliki, and Mokuba joined the crowd leaving the pottery performance, which hadn't turned out to be more than two woman decorated pots with different designs while they talked about them.  
  
"That was SO boring," Amber whispered to Duke, who sighed.  
  
"Yeah..." he muttered, as they looked around for Bakura and Seto.  
  
Mr. Zaliki sighed exhaustedly.  
  
"I bet Bakura got lost on the way to the restroom," he grumbled, pulling out his park map as a slight drizzle began to fall.  
  
"What about my niisama?" Mokuba asked worriedly, looking around.  
  
Amber shifted her weight on one foot to the other.  
  
  
  
"I don't know," she replied, looking around and spotting, not Seto, but Jim.  
  
She gasped.  
  
"Guys!" she cried, pointing toward him. "It's Jim!"  
  
*********  
  
Jim narrowed his eyes in frustration as Amber screamed his name. He wanted to catch them by surprise, not have them already know he was around ahead of time.  
  
"Why you..." Jim muttered to himself, wishing desperately that the girl would be silent.  
  
Suddenly, the Millennium Key lit up and Amber froze. Her blue eyes lost their pupil and turned blank, and unknowing.  
  
"Amber?" Duke asked, looking at her uncertainly. "What's wrong?"  
  
Jim blinked.  
  
"She's silent?" he wondered, looking down at the Millennium Key. "Did this pendant do that?"  
  
He grinned as he looked up at the girl.  
  
  
  
"Hit your friend," he commanded under his breath.  
  
"Amber?" Duke asked, waving a hand in front of her, when Amber swung out her hand and slapped Duke's cheek.  
  
Duke stepped back, holding a hand to his stinging cheek and looking over at Amber, shocked.  
  
"What was that for?" he demanded, looking hurt, as the crowd started to thin out now that the rain had started to fall.  
  
Amber stared blankly at him, awaiting the next command of the Millennium Key.  
  
*********  
  
End of Chapter 12  
  
Notes: One of the abilities of the Millennium Key is to redecorate a person's soul room, and make them a mind slave pretty much. If you read Shonen Jump, you'll have seen how that goes.  
  
"Poor Amber!!"  
  
To find out what happens to her, REVIEW!!! Thanks. ^_^ 


	13. Chapter 13: Surprises

Chapter 13: Surprises  
  
Note: ^_^ OK! Chapter 13! Lots of questions to answer!  
  
"First of all, yes, Millennium Key is sorta like Millennium Rod, and Priest Seto and Seto will have something to do with the rod soon. ^_~  
  
Yami DOES have a Ka as well, but his is NOT Dark Magician. (Priest Mahado really had the most connection to the Dark Magician.) Yami's is none other than Kuribo. ^_^ Modern Seto, at least in my story, does not have a White Dragon Ka. The Ka was an Egyptian thing.  
  
Seto is sorta asking for it, but he's also tired of being stalked by this gang. And Seto getting beat up? ^^;;;; Well, I couldn't tell you that just yet. Keep reading. He'll pop up sooner or later again. ^_~  
  
And one last thing. Thanks SO much for the reviews guys! ^_^ They really mean a lot.  
  
"Yay! Let's get going now!" ^_~ "I'm tired of notes."  
  
-_-;;  
  
**********  
  
  
  
Chapter 13: Surprises  
  
"Amber!" Duke yelled, as his friend stood there, unmoving in the rain.  
  
"What is going on here?" Mr. Zaliki demanded angrily from Duke and Amber, holding his paper map over his head to stop the rain. "No attacking other school members. I don't care how you behaved in your old school you do not behave that way here..."  
  
"Slap the teacher-man," Jim ordered in Amber's mind, and she whirled around and smacked Mr. Zaliki as well, right across the cheek.  
  
Jim grinned gleefully as Mr. Zaliki stepped back, stunned.  
  
"You will be expelled, young lady if you do not stop!" he threatened.  
  
Amber just continued to look blank as Duke looked around at the people nearby them, trying to figure out what was the cause of Amber's strange behavior. A moment later, his eyes fell upon Jim and the glowing Millennium Key.  
  
The Millennium Key! He thought.  
  
"He's doing something to her!" Duke yelled at Mr. Zaliki, pointing to Jim. "He's using that Millennium Item!"  
  
"That nonsense again?" Mr. Zaliki called back, rolling his eyes.  
  
"It's real!" Duke argued, looking nervously at Amber.  
  
"Kill them..." Jim's voice echoed through Amber's blank mind.  
  
Amber's eyes narrowed evilly and she picked up a stick that had been lying on the ground near a Greek booth.  
  
"Die..." she said in a hollow voice and walked forward, toward Duke and Mr. Zaliki.  
  
Duke jumped, his eyes wide in horror  
  
"She's gonna kill us!" he cried, grabbing Mr. Zaliki's arm. "Let's get out of here!"  
  
Mr. Zaliki was completely baffled as Duke dragged him along by his shirt sleeve, as he ran away from Amber, who was now advancing on them, her eyes still blank and unknowing. She had become nothing more than a puppet, with no mind or memory.  
  
"Amber!" Duke yelled, trying to penetrate through to her, but it did nothing.  
  
Sighing, he took a sharp turn around the corner, hoping to loose her for the time being.  
  
"What am I going to do?" he thought to himself, sweat dripping down his cheek.  
  
**********  
  
Yugi and Tea slid down to the slick, cold floor of the strange building they'd just entered. Tea's chest fell and rose rapidly as she tried to catch her breath as quietly as she could, so not to alert the two men to their presence in the building.  
  
"Drat, he still won't fess up to where he got that gold necklace thing," A deep man's voice echoed from another room, causing both Yugi and Tea's ears to perk.  
  
"Do you think they're talking about Shadi?" Tea mouthed wordlessly to Yugi.  
  
Yugi nodded, and peered out from behind the corner they were hiding in. There was a long shadow of two men lying on the floor, and the echoing voices as the talked with each other.  
  
"Fine, just grab the loot and let's get going," Another man replied, and there was the sound as if he had picked something up. "After the heist here we'll have to skip town."  
  
Yugi's eyes widened.  
  
"Heist?" Tea whispered. "They're planning to steal from the festival?"  
  
"Seems so," Yugi whispered back as the two men starting walking back toward the door.   
  
Yugi and Tea both leaned against the wall, holding their breath as the men opened the door and walked outside.  
  
"Lock up, just in case," The first man replied, and there was a slam of the door and a rustle of keys as the door was locked and Tea and Yugi were left alone, or so it seemed, in the building.  
  
"Is it safe to come out?" Tea whispered, frightfully, her heart thudding in her chest.  
  
"I think so," Yugi said, swallowing, and the two made their way out from the corner and into the main hallway of the building.  
  
There were many lockers lining the walls, all with different locks attached to them, however they were unlocked at the minute and were simply hanging on the knobs. Yugi suspected they had, at one point, held the criminal's "loot."  
  
"Seems like they're clearing out, going to make one last robbery at the festival, and then leave town for good," Yugi explained to Tea, who nodded in agreement.  
  
"Yes...but they were talking about someone," she mentioned, narrowing her eyes and looking down at Yugi. "Do you think they could be talking about Shadi? Do you think they're holding him here?"  
  
Yugi nodded.  
  
"I'll bet he's in one of the back rooms," Yugi declared, taking off down the hallway.  
  
Tea nodded, taking a deep breath and running after Yugi, hoping they would be able to find Shadi.  
  
**********  
  
Priest Seto stared as Yami Taerro continued to fish through his cards, smiling as though this were a fun match, rather than a duel of good versus evil.  
  
"What is he so confident about?" Priest Seto wondered, watching him carefully. "My Ka is quite strong...I only hope he doesn't have a stronger one that can defeat it..."  
  
Yami Taerro finally stumbled upon a card that caused him to grin. He pulled it up and smiled.  
  
"Well priest, I've finally found an opponent for you," he chuckled, the card he was holding lighting up.  
  
Priest Seto narrowed his eyes.  
  
"How did he know I had been a priest during my lifetime?" Priest Seto wondered to himself. "Something about this man seems all to familiar..."  
  
"Come out now! Sangan!" Yami Taerro announced, and a small, three-eyed and furry brown monsters appeared.  
  
Priest Seto blinked.  
  
"Such an evil spirit, yet all he could come up with was a weak Sangan?" Priest Seto asked himself. "No matter...I must fight."  
  
"Come out! White Dragon!" Priest Seto declared, and white lighting cracked in the sky as well as lighting due to the storm, and as the rain continued to beat down on the ever-thinning crowd, the White Dragon appeared beside Priest Seto.  
  
A few people screamed as he roared, and several who hadn't noticed Sangan, now noticed both the dragon and the fiend and backed away, yelling and pointing. Priest Seto cringed.  
  
Yami Bakura, who had been milling through the crowd, was suddenly knocked to the ground by people rushing to get away from the battle between Priest Seto and Yami Taerro.  
  
"What in the world is going on?!" he grumbled, getting to his feet and glancing ahead.  
  
Then, he gasped.  
  
"The Priest's White Dragon..." he exclaimed, looking at it as it roared again, ready to attack, and defeat, the Sangan in front of it.  
  
"All right, White Dragon! White Lighting attack on Sangan!" Priest Seto ordered, the White Dragon launched an electric attack at Sangan, destroying it and causing the grass and trees the blow back with the attack.  
  
The dust cleared and Priest Seto grinned, proudly. Yami Taerro, however, was still smiling. Yami Bakura's eyes were wide as he watched.  
  
"The White Dragon Ka truly is remarkable," he thought to himself, grinning. "What a perfect addition it would make to my power..."  
  
Yami Taerro laughed, smiling up at Priest Seto with his evil grin. He was aware Yami Bakura was watching, but that didn't matter to him.   
  
"Priest," he said silkily, grinning up at Priest Seto and his White Dragon Ka. "I am invincible!"  
  
Priest Seto's eyes widened as Yami Taerro's eyes turned red.  
  
"What is going on?" he thought, stepping back a little.  
  
**********  
  
Meanwhile, Mokuba was wandering down the paths, using his bandana as a shield from the rain, although it wasn't helping very much.  
  
"Where is Seto?" he wondered to himself, squinting through the now steadily falling rain.   
  
It was getting harder and harder to see through the rain and people hurrying to get to their cars and buses, and Mokuba was getting pushed around by the people, making it nearly impossible to find any sign of his brother, or anyone else he knew, for that matter.  
  
"Maybe I should have just stayed with Duke and Seto's teacher," he thought to himself, shivering. "But then again, Amber was going insane, so maybe it was good I got away. I wonder what happened to her..."  
  
Suddenly, Mokuba remembered Priest Seto had left after Seto had.  
  
"Maybe if I can find the priest-spirit, he can figure out what's making Amber act so strangely," Mokuba thought to himself, starting to run through the rain, a flash of lightning cracking across the sky as he splashed through the muddy puddles forming on the ground.  
  
I just hope I can find someone...he thought nervously.  
  
**********  
  
Meanwhile, Joey was still chasing after his lunch plate when the storm hit, and he began to get soaked by the rain.  
  
"Aw man!" he cried, picking up his sodden plate and squinting through the heavy sheets of rain that were now falling. "Not another storm!"  
  
He shrugged.  
  
"Guess antique day is gonna get cut short," he thought to himself, walking back toward the fair.  
  
**********  
  
"Great," Tristan muttered, as a raindrop plopped on his head. "It's starting to rain, and no one's found us yet."  
  
He and his father were still tied up with the magical bonds and hidden away in the alley. Tristan had finished explaining the entire story (or at least, as much as he knew of it) of the Millennium Items and the evil spirits.  
  
Mr. Taylor had been quite astonished to realize two spirits were accompanying them on their trip, and one student who was possessed by one. Now, the two had been calling for someone to come untie them, however, unfortunately, in all the hustle to get out of the rain, no one had heard them.  
  
Mr. Taylor sighed.  
  
"Well, at least that evil Taerro character isn't around anymore," he said, trying to sound a bit more optimistic than he actually felt.  
  
Tristan narrowed his eyes in irritation.  
  
"Yeah, splendid. He's probably off terrorizing someone else now," he muttered.  
  
Mr. Taylor sighed.  
  
"Why hadn't you told me about this magical...stuff before, Tristan?" he asked, curiously. "I now understand where that strange monster that nearly ran me down came from on the beach when we were on vacation over the summer."  
  
Tristan laughed a little.  
  
"You never told me that," he replied, in a playfully-accusing voice.  
  
Mr. Taylor grew a little red.  
  
"I guess I thought you wouldn't believe me," he replied with a grin.  
  
Tristan smiled.  
  
"Same here," he replied with a laugh as another bolt of lightning lit up across the sky.  
  
**********  
  
Priest Seto stared blankly at Yami Taerro, who's eyes had grown red and evil and was now glaring at Priest Seto and his White Dragon with a hungering look.  
  
"You should remember me, priest," he said tauntingly, walking forward a little. "You should have remembered from back then...when you thought you'd sealed me away for good."  
  
Priest Seto's eyes widened even more. It was all coming together now; he knew who Yami Taerro really was.  
  
"But now it's too late, and I will become the most powerful force ever!" Yami Taerro declared, and a strange, purplish-blue mist formed around the White Dragon, causing it to cry out in pain.  
  
"Stop it!" Priest Seto yelled, angrily clenching his fists.  
  
Yami Taerro laughed as he sucked part of the spirit of the White Dragon away and added it to himself, increasing his own powers. Yami Bakura watched, wide-eyed as well.  
  
"So this is the power of the evil spirit," he thought to himself. "To suck the energies of others and add them to his own. How interesting."  
  
The White Dragon disappeared back into Priest Seto's mind and the purplish-mist faded away, Yami Taerro still grinning as the spirit of the dragon increased his powers even more. Priest Seto, now weakened and defenseless, could only watch as the boy walked away into the crowd.  
  
"Now on to steal my last addition," he thought to himself as he disappeared into the crowds.  
  
***********  
  
Bastet's eyes widened as she looked up from where she had been musing on the present situation. She'd felt as though something terrible had just happened...and in Domino.  
  
She narrowed her eyes as she stood up, surprising Thoth, who had gone back to writing on his scroll.  
  
  
  
He raised an eyebrow.  
  
"Bastet?" he asked, looking curiously over at her. "What are you doing?"  
  
Bastet looked around the temple. None of the other gods were present aside from Horus, who was sitting in the corner, resting. He's not listening, she thought to herself.  
  
"I'm going back to Domino," Bastet announced, preparing to use her magic to transport her.  
  
Thoth looked curious.  
  
"Why?" he asked, standing up.  
  
"Because I've been feeling a disturbance in the Millennium Destiny, and I now feel as though another evil has made its appearance," she said shortly. "I will be back soon."  
  
  
  
*************  
  
End of Chapter 13  
  
Review please!! ^_^ Thanks! And then we'll get the next chapter up, which has a LOT of information on Yami Taerro's origin, and why his powers are what they are. 


	14. Chapter 14: The Vampire Lord

Chapter 14: The Vampire Lord  
  
Notes: The title give you any clues?  
  
"Hint, it's got something to do with Yami Taerro. :P  
  
"And OF COURSE everyone has a spirit, (Ka=spirit after all) but I was talking about the Ka in more of the way that the Egyptian people in YGO have a Duel Monster spirit as their Ka, which I don't know whether or not the modern characters have. Of course they have a spirit. ^_~ Oo, and this chapter will have a lot to do with certain Ka…(which are also what the characters in the ancient Egyptian arc call other monsters)…"  
  
Okay! Enough hints. Let's just give the chapter! (Oh, and ~~ is a flashback/memory. And Priest Seto will sometimes be referred to as Seto in a flashback. ^_~) And thanks for reviewing everyone! ^_^  
  
**********  
  
Chapter 14: The Vampire Lord  
  
Yami Bakura was stunned for a moment, still staring at where Yami Taerro had just been, when he came back to his senses. He grinned and looked up at Priest Seto, who was looking at the crowds as well, lost in his own thoughts.  
  
"Well, if there's one good thing that evil Taerro did, it was weakening my latest target," he said aloud, causing Priest Seto to look down at him.  
  
"Bakura," he whispered, narrowing his eyes in anger, the memories of the past becoming sharp in his mind once more.  
  
Yami Bakura's grin widened.  
  
"It seems to me you've become a bit weak," he observed, the Millennium Ring beginning to glow, and appearing on top of his shirt. "After your battle with evil Taerro. That makes my job even easier than I had expected."  
  
Priest Seto narrowed his eyes in confusion.  
  
"Your job?" he inquired.  
  
Yami Bakura nodded, then ring still glowing.  
  
"Yes...you see, I've found that a perfect addition to my powers is yours," he explained.  
  
"Mine?" Priest Seto asked in horror as the ring's glow become unbearably bright.  
  
Yami Bakura nodded again, still grinning a mad grin.  
  
"Yes, your White Dragon Ka!" he cried, the Millennium Ring preparing to summon a monster to draw out the weakened White Dragon...and to defeat it.  
  
Priest Seto stepped back, the battle-weary White Dragon appearing to protect him. But before Yami Bakura could even summon his evil monster, a bright blue light flashed in between Priest Seto and Yami Bakura, causing them both to gasp.  
  
Then, in the middle of the blue light, appeared Bastet, the black cat goddess, her silver collar glowing, as well as her yellow eyes, which were narrowed into tiny slits.  
  
"Be gone!" she hissed angrily at Yami Bakura, and an invisible force pushed him back.  
  
"What in the...?!" he cried, looking angrily at Bastet.  
  
Then, realizing he could not defeat the goddess, turned and walked away before she decided to do anything else.  
  
Bastet turned toward Priest Seto, her eyes worried.  
  
"What just happened?" she asked.  
  
Priest Seto sighed.  
  
"I fought with an evil being...someone from the past..." he muttered, staring at the ground. "I can't believe after all this time, he's broken free again."  
  
Bastet cocked her head.  
  
"Who is this being?" she asked, then stopped herself and smiled. "No matter, I will simply probe into your memories for the answer."  
  
Priest Seto raised an eyebrow.  
  
"What do you mean?" he asked, but suddenly, he felt a strange feeling, like something entering his mind.  
  
Bastet's eyes closed mystically as she focused in on memories of Priest Seto's past...  
  
***********  
  
Bastet blinked as blurred memories of times in Egypt, the palace, of priests, the Pharaoh, and different Duel Monsters flashed in front of her like clips on a video-screen. She narrowed her eyes as she tried to focus in on the memory she was searching for...the memory of the real identity of the evil spirit inside Taerro.  
  
Suddenly, she stumbled upon it.  
  
"Here we are..." she muttered, narrowing her eyes.  
  
~~It was a sunny morning in Egypt, the yellow sun high over head as the people of the village awoke and started out on their daily tasks. The merchants, the gold workers, the embalmers, and the priests, and even the Pharaoh. (Not Yami, though. His father.)  
  
She focused in on the palace, where a certain priest was walking out of the main door, and down the path. In his hand, was a golden rod with the eye of Horus on the top. This was Priest Seto...while he was alive, at least. A younger Priest Seto.  
  
Priest Seto appeared to be walking up to a peculiar temple, the one Bastet recognized as the temple where the Ka were kept when not in use. The Ka were like Duel Monsters, and were sealed into tables which were kept in the temple. Only special people could call upon them.  
  
Bastet watched as the priest walked up the path to the temple, where he was about to walk inside, but stopped, and stared inside.  
  
Inside, a young man wearing a black cloak was standing beside a tablet containing a strong Ka, scattering red and blue potions and powders of some sort on the floor, and chanting in a language the priest did not recognize.  
  
Suddenly, the man's body lit up, as did the tablet of the monster. Something was extracted from the tablet, and in a whirl of blue and purple color, the two merged, becoming one.  
  
Priest Seto, horrified looking, stepped forward, his rod raised.  
  
"What are you doing?" he cried, pointing the rod directly at the man, who was shaking slightly from the merge.  
  
There was a horrible cackle and the man turned around, his hair now green-ish tinged and his skin a purplish color, with long purple nails at the end of his fingers. Two fangs hung over the edge of his lip, and his eyes were narrowed, menacingly, as he peered over at Priest Seto.  
  
"Ah...a priest," he observed in a hissing voice, his eyes fixating on the priest. "One of the Pharaoh's followers who summon the Ka from this temple to battle with."  
  
Priest Seto was not amused.  
  
"Who are you, and what did you just do with that Ka?" he demanded, the rod still raised.  
  
The man laughed a high-pitched laugh, his entire body shaking. Then, he looked seriously back over at Priest Seto.  
  
"I am a magician," he said in the same wispy voice. "A great magician...no, now the greatest magician of all!"  
  
"What did you do?!" Priest Seto yelled angrily.  
  
The man laughed again, a short, quick laugh.  
  
"I used my powers and magic, and years and years of research to come up with a spell to fully enhance my abilities," he replied.  
  
"What do you mean?" Priest Seto retorted.  
  
"I used my spell to take the Ka from this tablet, and fused it with my body, creating a new being...an enhanced being," he replied. "With abilities and powers most, like you priests, have to rely on your Ka to do, as you are not capable yourself."  
  
He snickered.  
  
"You took a Ka and fused it with yourself?!" Priest Seto cried, outraged.  
  
The man laughed again.  
  
"Yes, I did," he replied, advancing on Seto. "You must be wondering about my abilities..."  
  
He reached out his hand quickly and a purplish blue substance engulfed Priest Seto.  
  
"What in the...?!" he cried, gasping as he felt himself being drained.  
  
"My abilities enable me many things, one of which being able to suck part of the spirit of my foes, and add it to myself, increasing my own power."  
  
Priest Seto gasped, falling to the ground, the rod clanking against the stone floor as he panted.  
  
The man laughed, the purplish blue substance vanishing from around his hands, as he licked one fang.  
  
"You should realize, with my magical knowledge and now new abilities, that I will be unstoppable."  
  
Priest Seto turned to look at the man as he hurried away, his cape flying behind him. He narrowed his eyes at the man.  
  
"You will...be stopped," Priest Seto declared to himself in a whisper, before heading off back to the palace to inform the others of this.~~  
  
  
  
Bastet, astonished, searched through the memories to find the demise of the evil spirit, who had merged his body with a Ka; Vampire Lord.  
  
Finally, she stumbled upon what must have been the last scene of the evil Taerro's existence in the ancient world. It was in the Pharaoh's hall, and all the Priests were gathered around the Vampire Lord-man, who was looking menacing, now powered up with many spirits.  
  
"You cannot defeat me with your other Ka," he explained, flexing his long fingers. "Simply surrender."  
  
Priest Seto grinned.  
  
  
  
"We won't surrender," he replied, raising the Millennium Rod as Priest Mahado and Priest Shadi brought forth a blank, stone tablet, used for sealing away the Ka.  
  
"That is correct," Priestess Isis added, pointing to the tablet. "Since you foolishly bonded your own spirit to that of Ka, you have given yourself your own weakness."  
  
The Vampire narrowed his eyes.  
  
"What are saying?" he demanded, his eyes glaring at the priests.  
  
"By becoming part of a Ka, you have let yourself become vulnerable to being captured," Isis concluded with a grin. "Just as the Ka are."  
  
The Vampire's eyes went wide.  
  
"No!" he cried, preparing to attack the priests, but Priest Seto's Millennium Rod began to glow, and the spirit of the fused man and Ka was guided, screaming in protest, over to the stone tablet, where it was sealed away inside of it, and a picture of the man-Ka engraved on it.  
  
"Perfect," Mahado announced, grinning at the stone.  
  
Priest Seto nodded.~~  
  
Bastet opened her eyes and stared at Priest Seto, shocked.  
  
"You see why this is so terrible?" Priest Seto asked, letting his transparent shoulders sag. "His powers are nearly impossible to defeat, and he can use others to increase his own power, making it nearly unlimited!"  
  
Bastet nodded, letting everything soak in. Yami Taerro was indeed the spirit of a man who had fused his own spirit with the Ka of the Vampire Lord back in ancient Egypt. That was why he had been able to steal part of other's spirits to increase his power.  
  
It all made sense...  
  
The boy Taerro had broken the tablet in an antique shop, releasing the spirit and allowing it to live in him.  
  
"But you defeated the Vampire back in Egypt," Bastet inquired, trying to find another flaw in the vampire. "Surely you can do it again."  
  
Priest Seto shook his head.  
  
"It was only by the power of the Millennium Rod that I was able to seal away the Ka, and I don't have it anymore," he replied with a sigh. "Besides which, if he is not sealed away soon, his Ka-spirit will become to strong to be contained."  
  
Bastet scowled, pacing back and forth in the rain, cringing. (Being a cat, she did not like the rain very much, nor was she used to it, having lived in Egypt for the better part of her lifetime.)  
  
"The Millennium Rod..." she mused. "It is in the possession of the boy who houses the Pharaoh's spirit. Its powers include controlling a being's mind, and sealing and summoning Ka."  
  
"And if you take off the end, it becomes a dagger," Priest Seto added, remembering his faithful item.  
  
Bastet nodded.  
  
"Yes..." she replied. "Malik Ishtar had been the owner of the rod for nearly 7 years when he surrendered it to Yugi Motou after a dark duel. The boy has not used it since."  
  
"If only I could use its powers," Priest Seto thought, then an idea struck him.  
  
"Do you think Seto Kaiba can use the powers?" Bastet inquired, as though reading the priest's mind.  
  
Priest Seto shrugged.  
  
"That would be a solution," he agreed. "Though..."  
  
Seto was stubborn. After all, he hadn't even wanted to accept the fact that he could communicate with his ancient Egyptian counterpart's spirit for a while.  
  
Bastet nodded, reading the priest's mind again.  
  
"Yes, he is reluctant to accept magic, isn't he?" she purred, cringing as a raindrop plopped her nose.  
  
She wiggled her nose around in irritation as Priest Seto floated down toward her.  
  
"Well, he's our only idea right now," Priest Seto replied. "Millennium Items do not accept just everyone."  
  
Bastet nodded as another rain drop hit her nose.  
  
"In the meantime, we must stop Yami Taerro from reaching his new objective," Bastet replied. "I sense he is after something."  
  
Priest Seto nodded, then suddenly sensed something. He looked around, searching for something.  
  
"What's wrong?" Bastet inquired, tilting her head curiously.  
  
Priest Seto swallowed.  
  
"I fear something bad is happening..." he muttered, looking around, nervously.  
  
Bastet's ears perked.  
  
"And I sense something this way. I will try to stop the vampire spirit," she told him. "You go help your reincarnate and the others."  
  
Priest Seto nodded, and floated away, hoping nothing bad had happened...to anyone.  
  
**********  
  
End of Chapter 14  
  
Review! Review! PLEASE REVIEW!! 


	15. Chapter 15: It Becomes Clear

Chapter 15: It Becomes Clear...  
  
Notes: Did last chapter surprise anyone? ^_^ And the Vampire's ability is to use part of the spirit of an enemy. Meaning he can take PART of anyone's spirit.  
  
"Just get on with this one!"  
  
-_-x Ok, fine. And sorry for no Seto in the last 2 chapters. ^^;; He comes back in this one. ;)  
  
**********  
  
  
  
Chapter 15: It Becomes Clear...  
  
Yugi and Tea ran down the dark hallways of the building, Tea feeling along the walls so she wouldn't fall over anything or run into anything.  
  
"Yugi..." she called nervously, her voice echoing in the high-ceilinged corridor. "I don't know about this..."  
  
Yugi swallowed, his Millennium Puzzle flapping up and down as he ran, hitting him again and again as it flopped back.  
  
"I know it's dangerous, but we might be able to help Shadi!" Yugi called back to her.  
  
Tea frowned, worriedly. If they were caught in this...hideout, they would probably be kidnapped as well.  
  
"I hope we find Shadi soon," she muttered, hurrying after Yugi.  
  
**********  
  
Meanwhile, Madam Christina, opening a colorful umbrella, walked through the rain and over to the booth 15, where her medallion was going to be showcased. A thick, navy-blue cloth was hiding it and the other pieces from view at the time, indicating they were something special.  
  
In fact, most of the spectators that had decided to stay, despite the stormy weather, were now gathered around the display, awaiting 4:30 when the unveiling would take place.  
  
"I do hope the others are all right," Madam Christina thought to herself, pulling her sweater closer. "I haven't side hide nor hair of them since I left for the office this morning."  
  
She herself had been having a wonderful time at the fair, enjoying talking to other antique collectors and admiring their works. (After all, she was a bit of an "antique freak" herself. ^_~)  
  
Of course, the nagging feeling that kept her from truly enjoying herself was the fact that Shadi was still missing, and the criminals on the lose. Who knew when they were going to show up again?  
  
Madam Christina sighed as she looked around. No one she knew from Yugi's class was standing nearby; now it was mainly adults, impatiently checking their watches to make sure they weren't waiting any longer then they had to in order to see the items.  
  
Suddenly, Taerro caught her eye. He was standing beside the booth, looking around, as if studying the crowd. She smiled and waved at him, but either he did not see her, or chose not to return the gesture.  
  
"That's odd," Madam Christina thought to herself, tilting her head curiously. "I wonder where the others are..."  
  
***********  
  
Meanwhile, Duke and Mr. Zaliki were continuing to run away from Amber, who was still following the one order that had been given to her, and that continued to echo through her otherwise empty mind: "Kill them..."  
  
Swinging the stick, she lashed out at Duke, who ducked, allowing the stick to tear through the roof of a tent instead.  
  
"What in the world?!" The owner of the tent, who was packing up her things, apparently ready leave, cried, watching the three go by. "You kids go play sword fights somewhere else! How am I gonna get that repaired?!"  
  
"Sorry ma'am!" Duke yelled back as he shoved Mr. Zaliki out of the way of another stick attack.  
  
"That young lady has gone mad!" Mr. Zaliki scowled angrily as he brushed off his wet pants of grass clippings.  
  
"Keep going!" Duke yelled, ducking another attack. "And it's not her fault! That man is controlling her or something with the Millennium Item!"  
  
Mr. Zaliki sighed as the two ran by the alley in which Tristan and Mr. Taylor were still tied up at the end of. Tristan looked up, hopefully as he noticed his friend and teacher run by.  
  
"Hey! Zaliki! Duke! We're down here!" he yelled at the top of his lungs, but they didn't stop running.  
  
"What's their rush?" he grumbled, wiggling around in the bonds again as Amber ran by.  
  
"Die!" she yelled again, causing Tristan to raise an eyebrow.  
  
"Man...I told Devlin that girl was weird," he muttered in surprise.  
  
Mr. Taylor blinked.  
  
"Girls certainly have changed. I would have never dated a girl who frequently chased me around wanting to kill me," he commented with a shake of his head. "Ah...the modern days."  
  
Tristan narrowed his eyes in annoyance.  
  
"Da-ad," he groaned.  
  
**********  
  
Seto looked straight into Stella's eyes, fire burning in his own.  
  
"Why do you want to get rid of me?" he asked, wondering what she could possibly want with killing him.  
  
Stella chuckled.  
  
"Well, it's not like I'll gain anything," she said with a small laugh, flinging a lock of her damp, dark hair behind her. "It'll just be a relief to finally have you out of our way...never to intervene with our plans again."  
  
Seto narrowed his eyes in anger. Stella was still angry about his foiling her attempts to steal the gems from that building last week. And now...she was ready to finish him off.  
  
But Seto was ready as well. There was no one around to protect him, and no one around to aid Stella. It was a one on one...and now, he could finally free himself and Mokuba of Stella's evil.  
  
"I'm not going to lose this," Seto replied, eyes narrowed at her, knowing he could easily overpower her. "And you and your group will be going on a one-way trip to jail. Don't underestimate me."  
  
Stella's grin grew wider.  
  
Suddenly, from out of nowhere, several of Stella's assistants came out from all sides of Seto, surrounding him. Seto looked around, wildly, not expecting them to come, although angrily realizing now that he should have.  
  
~Never trust your enemy.~ (Aesop's fable)  
  
Stella grinned again.  
  
"Oh, I don't underestimate you at all," she replied, stepping back a little. "In fact, that's precisely why I've arranged your "opponent" for you. Or should I say, opponent's."  
  
She laughed a bit as the men began to close in around Seto.  
  
"Coward..." Seto hissed angrily, think quickly.   
  
Four on one was not what he'd been planning, but...there was no way out now. He'd have to take them on.  
  
************  
  
Yugi and Tea skidded to a stop, now in a dank room in the back of the building, it seemed. Several doors with bars fitted into the little windows up top lined the walls, reminding Yugi strongly of a jail room.  
  
"This must be the place," he hissed to Tea, who nodded.  
  
The two crept up and peered into the first door, the Millennium Puzzle softly lighting up. Yugi's eyes widened as he looked down at it.  
  
"There's no one in here," Tea replied, looking back at Yugi, but noticing now he was following his puzzle, and most likely, Yami.  
  
"Yugi...?" she asked, looking curiously at her friend as he walked forward and toward the last door on the wall.  
  
He stopped in front of it, and Yami nodded beside him.   
  
"This is the one," Yami replied, staring at the door.  
  
  
  
Yugi looked up at his friend. True, Yami had never particularly been on great terms with Shadi. Shadi had, after all, made a rather rude intrusion into both Yami and Yugi's mind back in Duelist Kingdom, and before that, had used Tea as a puppet to get at Yami.  
  
But at least he hadn't tried to kill them since.  
  
"Yami..." Yugi said biting his lip. "Er...why don't you go talk to him? Kind of, explain things while we find the keys, or something to pick the lock," he said, looking down at the heavy lock that was attached to the door handle.  
  
Yami sighed.  
  
"All right, Yugi," he replied, walking through the wall and into the cell.  
  
Yugi turned to Tea.  
  
"Yami's going to explain things to him," he said with a nervous smile. "In the meantime, we need to find something that can pick that lock open to get him out."  
  
Tea nodded, still looking slightly confused.  
  
"All right," she replied with a nod, staring back at the far door for a moment before following Yugi back toward the lockers in the hallway.  
  
**********  
  
Yami entered the room to find an Egyptian man sitting on a small bench that was attached to the wall. His eyes were closed, as if in a meditation of some sort.  
  
  
  
The Millennium Key was missing from where it usually always hung around his neck, and there was a tear in his robe.  
  
"Shadi," Yami remarked slowly, standing across from him, his arms folded across his chest.  
  
The Egyptian man opened his eyes in surprise. He looked over at Yami and gasped, his eyes wide.  
  
"Pharaoh..." he asked, looking curiously over at Yami. "Why have you come here?"  
  
"We heard you had been taken by an enemy, and came to help you," Yami replied.  
  
Shadi nodded.  
  
"I see," he replied. "The Millennium Key has been taken by evil forces, and I fear that they will soon realize the powers it possesses. In such case, we are all in danger."  
  
Yami nodded.  
  
"I know," he replied. "We have been staying at the house of your sister, Christina."  
  
Shadi raised an eyebrow.  
  
"You are acquainted with my sister?" he inquired, slightly surprised.  
  
Yami nodded.  
  
"Yes," he replied. "It seems that the group that took you hostage also are after your sister's artifacts."  
  
Shadi's eyes narrowed, and he folded his hands, resting his chin on them.  
  
"My sister's artifacts are not all ordinary," he said darkly. "A few possess powers similar to the Millennium Items, and will cause great destruction if ever placed in the hands of evil."  
  
  
  
Yami raised an eyebrow.  
  
"Like which ones?" he inquired, remembering how there had been evil spirits in several other of her artifacts, particularly statues of birds.  
  
Shadi narrowed his eyes as he studied the floor.  
  
"When Christina was leaving for her journey, I entrusted her with a medallion with terrible powers. The powers would not be unlocked unless the owner willed them to be, however..."  
  
  
  
He paused.  
  
"I knew she would take good care of it, so I felt safe in leaving it with her," he continued. "But if the hands of darkness ever touched the medallion, its evil power would activate."  
  
"What does this...medallion do?" Yami asked.  
  
"It has the ability to grant its owner amplified power," he replied. "For instance, if a Millennium Item owner ever touched the medallion and willed it to activate, the abilities of the item would increase by an enormous percent. It is a very dangerous item..."  
  
Yami nodded, worriedly. Should Yami Bakura or another evil ever find the medallion, they would be in very great danger.  
  
"How were you...taken?" Yami asked, wishing Yugi and Tea would hurry and break the lock.  
  
Shadi closed his eyes, as if the memory was still painful.  
  
"I had boarded a boat for Japan, to visit my sister, when I sensed a strange evil on board," he explained. "I went to my room to meditate on it, when I was attacked from behind and rendered unconscious. When I awoke, I was here, and my Millennium Key had been taken."  
  
Yami nodded, then turned around, hearing a noise at the door.  
  
"We found something!" Tea called in the room, and there was a scraping sound, like metal on metal.  
  
A few moments later, there was a thud, and the door swung open. Tea had managed to pick the lock with a crowbar, and the door was opened.  
  
  
  
She smiled, putting the bar down.  
  
"Shadi was in here!" she exclaimed, turning to Yugi, who nodded.  
  
"Yes," he replied. "It's good to see you again, Shadi."  
  
Shadi rose, looking seriously down at Yugi.  
  
"Yes, but we have no time to waste," he said, sighing sadly. "We must retrieve my Millennium Item and make sure no one takes the medallion."  
  
Yugi blinked.  
  
"Medallion?" he inquired as Shadi walked swiftly toward the door, Tea following.  
  
"Yes, it belongs to my sister, but it contains evil power that must not be used by the darkness," Shadi called back, Yami floating beside Yugi.  
  
"Yugi, I have a terrible feeling that the medallion Shadi is referring to is here at this festival," he informed his friend. "And I sense that the Millennium Key is here as well!"  
  
Yugi's eyes widened and he took off after Tea and Shadi.  
  
"Then we've got to get to it first!" he called. "And get the Millennium Key back before anyone gets hurt!"  
  
Yami nodded.  
  
"Right," he replied, flying after his partner.  
  
************  
  
End of Chapter 15  
  
PLEASE review!  
  
"And after you review, we'll get the next chapter up soon!"  
  
Thanks for reading! ^_^ 


	16. Chapter 16: Attack!

Chapter 16: Attack!  
  
Notes: Hi again! Thanks for reviewing!  
  
Here we've got Chapter 16 for you, so get ready!  
  
***********  
  
Chapter 16: Attack!  
  
Duke and Mr. Zaliki both continued to race down the paths, away from Amber who was still hot on their trail, unknowingly trying to kill her friend and teacher.  
  
"Amber listen!" Duke yelled, dodging her again. "Don't do this!"  
  
He grabbed her shoulders, pinning them to her sides, causing her to drop the stick she'd been holding. He shook her roughly.  
  
"Come on! You don't want to kill me!" he said sternly as the rain continued to pour down on them.  
  
Mr. Zaliki watched as Amber stared blankly at Duke.  
  
"Come on!" Duke yelled, looking up and seeing Jim, holding the Millennium Key in his hands, it still glowing brightly.  
  
"I'm afraid there's no way to get through to her now," Jim replied, waving the key. "As long as I have this," he tossed it into the air to emphasize. "She's my little puppet."  
  
Duke gritted his teeth in anger and frustration. He had to get that key away from Jim...but how?  
  
***********  
  
Mokuba was still wandering around the paths when the two men in black from before whirled around the corner and ran right into him. Mokuba stumbled backwards, taken by surprise, and looked up at the men, nervously.  
  
"Hey look," One of them commented, pointing at Mokuba. "It's that Kaiba-guy's brother."  
  
The second shrugged, walking forward and grabbing Mokuba's arm tightly.  
  
"May as well take him in as well," he replied. "Though, Stella made it pretty clear she was going to...ah, how did she put it again?"  
  
"Dispose of Kaiba," The other snickered as Mokuba struggled against his partner's grip.  
  
"Let go of me you jerks!" he yelled, kicking the man's shins. "And don't you dare hurt my niisama!"  
  
"Hey, you brat!" The man yelled, rubbing his shin in pain. "Grab his other arm, will yu?" he asked his partner.  
  
"Sure thing," the other man replied, grabbing Mokuba's other arm tightly, causing the boy to grimace.  
  
"Let me GO I said!" Mokuba yelled, squirming around wildly. "Help!" he yelled, hoping someone would hear him.  
  
**********  
  
Priest Seto turned around a corner and came face do face with two men clothed in black, both of whom were holding one of Mokuba's arms, and the little boy was struggling against them.  
  
  
  
He gasped.  
  
"Leave me alone! Let me go!" Mokuba wailed angrily.  
  
  
  
Priest Seto's eyes narrowed in anger as a wind behind him began to blow again, as he prepared to summon his Ka.  
  
"Go...White Dragon!" he cried, anger surging through his mind at the sight of the two men trying to take Seto Kaiba's younger brother.  
  
The white lighting struck in front of the two men, and they looked up as the White Dragon started to appear.  
  
"What the heck...?!" One asked, still holding Mokuba's arm tightly as the dragon appeared in front of them.  
  
"Whoa! It's the dragon the other guys were talking about!" The second man cried, looking at it, wide-eyed.  
  
Mokuba's mouth dropped in amazement.  
  
"It looks like a Blue Eyes White Dragon..." he muttered, staring wide-eyed as well as the beast roared.  
  
"Let's get out of here!" One yelled, letting go of Mokuba and abruptly taking off, leaving Mokuba behind.  
  
"Yeah!" His partner yelled, running after him, and away from the White Dragon, whose blue eyes were narrowed in fury as well, representing Priest Seto's anger.  
  
Mokuba, however, could see the White Dragon's owner, unlike the men who had run away. He gaped up at Priest Seto as the dragon returned to his mind and he came down to the ground, next to Mokuba.  
  
"Wow..." Mokuba breathed, looking up at the priest in awe. "Was that...was that YOUR..." he started, but Priest Seto nodded.  
  
"Yes," he replied. "It's my Ka, similar to what you would call a...Duel Monster."  
  
Mokuba nodded, still staring at the priest in amazement.  
  
"Yeah..." he replied in agreement. "But that looked just like a Blue Eyes White Dragon, which is my brother's favorite card."  
  
Priest Seto nodded, smiling a bit.  
  
"Yes...it is strange how destiny works, isn't it?" he asked.  
  
Mokuba giggled and Priest Seto raised an eyebrow.  
  
"What is it?" he asked, looking down at Mokuba curiously.  
  
Mokuba shook his head, still smiling.  
  
"Oh, nothing," he replied with a grin. "It's just that Seto's always saying how there's no such thing as destiny and all that sort of thing. It's kind of funny to hear someone almost like him talk about destiny in a good way."  
  
Priest Seto sighed.  
  
"Destiny is not always kind," he said wisely, looking out toward the booth where the crowd had gathered. "And I think it would be wise to find the others, and your brother."  
  
Mokuba nodded, his smile now fading into a worried frown once more.  
  
"Yeah...I haven't seen him since we entered the tent for the pottery show," he said, concerned. "Do you know where he went?"  
  
He looked up at the priest pleadingly. Priest Seto began to feel uncomfortable. He pretty much knew where Seto had gone; to track down the enemy, but was that wise to tell Mokuba?  
  
"He said he was going somewhere," Priest Seto said truthfully, repeating his reincarnate's words.  
  
Mokuba sighed sadly.  
  
"I hope he's okay..." he muttered, squinting through the rain.  
  
So do I...Priest Seto thought to himself.  
  
************  
  
Meanwhile, the thugs of Stella's lunged at Seto, who promptly ducked and slipped out of the circle they had created around him. He narrowed his eyes and attacked the first one, knocking him into the second.  
  
As long as I'm fast, I should be able to get rid of them quickly, before they can gang up one me, Seto thought to himself, attacking another man.  
  
Stella, meanwhile, was watching attentively, grinning at the prospect of seeing the end of Seto Kaiba.  
  
Seto attacked one more man successfully, before getting knocked to the ground by an attack from behind him. He rolled over just in time to avoid getting smashed by another man's powerful attack and leapt back to his feet.  
  
But while trying to take on one man, the others attacked him again, causing him to loose him balance once more.  
  
  
  
"This is getting difficult..." he thought to himself, catching his breath before attempting another attack, a steam of sweat dripping down the side of his face. "I've got to finish...fast!"  
  
************  
  
Bastet slinked down the paths, looking this way and that, trying to find any sign of the evil she was sensing.  
  
"There is magical energy nearby...I can sense it!" she hissed to herself, looking around once more, hoping to find the source. "But where is it?"  
  
She suddenly stopped short and turned her head down a dark alley, her ears twitching in the rain. Down at the end, something golden was glowing...definitely magical.  
  
She pranced down the alley and found Mr. Taylor and Tristan, tied up in a magical bond. She raised her eyebrows suspiciously.  
  
Tristan looked up, and grinned.  
  
  
  
"Hey, it's that Bastet-cat Tea had around for a while," Tristan said happily, gesturing down at the black cat with his head.  
  
Mr. Taylor looked down, curiously.  
  
"Ah...it seems that it is..." he replied, as Bastet climbed into Tristan's lap to get at the magical bonds.  
  
"You think it can help us?" Tristan wondered, turning to his dad, whose eyes were still fixated on the cat.  
  
Bastet opened her mouth, revealing her sharp, silver fangs, and bit clean through the yellow bonds, causing them to vanish, freeing Mr. Taylor and Tristan.  
  
"All right!" Tristan cried, standing up and stretching his arms, Bastet falling to the floor, where she hissed.  
  
"Thanks," Tristan added to Bastet, who was already hurrying away.  
  
"Very odd..." Mr. Taylor commented, standing up as well, rubbing his soar arms from where the magical bonds had pressed into them. "But at least we're free again."  
  
"Yeah..." Tristan agreed, relieved, with a nod. "Who knows HOW long we'd have been stuck down here if she hadn't come along?"  
  
Mr. Taylor's eyes widened in horror at the thought.  
  
"I don't even want to think about that," he replied, putting a hand to his head. "Let's just go find the other students and hope they've had enough sight-seeing for one day."  
  
Tristan laughed.  
  
"Yeah, sure," he replied, walking out of the alley after his father.  
  
***********  
  
Shadi, Tea, and Yugi ran through the woods, trying to stay on the muddy trail as they rain continued to beat down on them.  
  
"I hope nothing bad has happened to the others!" Tea cried, worriedly, more to Yugi than to Shadi.  
  
"Yeah, or Madam Christina," Yugi replied, nearly slipping on a pile of wet leaves that had collected on the ground. "Whoa!"  
  
"My sister is here?" Shadi inquired, raising an eyebrow.  
  
Yugi nodded, regaining his balance.  
  
"Yeah...she and my friends are all here for the Cultural Festival!" Yugi shouted back.  
  
  
  
Shadi gritted his teeth.  
  
"I hope that she is not attacked," he thought to himself as they ran, the festival clearing coming into view.  
  
Yugi stopped for a moment after exiting the woods, looking around for any sign of his friends. Several families and classes were boarding their buses and getting into their cars, obviously leaving due to the weather.  
  
"I don't see anyone," Yugi muttered, concerned, looking around nervously.  
  
Tea nodded.   
  
"Me either," she replied, when suddenly, a cold and wet hand landed on her shoulder, causing her to jump back and scream.  
  
Then, she breathed a sigh of relief.  
  
"Joey!" she yelled angrily, partly because he'd scared her so. "Don't do that next time!" she shouted at her soaking friend.  
  
Joey shrugged, looking a little irritated at Tea's reaction.  
  
"Sheesh, all right already," he muttered, waving his hand in indifference. "Yugi! Where have you two been?"  
  
He looked over at Shadi and gasped.  
  
"Hey! Wow! You found that Shadi-dude!" he cried, pointing at Shadi as if he were a thing, rather than a person.  
  
Shadi narrowed his eyes.  
  
"Yes," Shadi replied coldly, looking back at the festival. "Where are the others?"  
  
  
  
Joey shrugged.  
  
"I dunno, I got separated when I went to get my plate," Joey replied, holding up his melting plate, which was drooping in the rain.  
  
Tea rolled her eyes.  
  
"Well, we have to go find them, now!" she said, taking off for the festival, worried.  
  
Yugi nodded.  
  
"Yeah, we think that a rare and powerful artifact is here, and that the crime group that kidnapped Shadi is going to steal the artifact, and probably tap into its power!" he cried, running after Tea, Shadi behind him.  
  
"We must go!" Shadi called back to Joey, who was standing in the rain still, quite confused.  
  
"Wha...?" he muttered, scratching his head in confusion.  
  
************  
  
Yami Bakura walked through the crowd, pushing his way up near the curtain. Narrowing his eyes, he spotted Yami Taerro looking at the structure of the place behind the curtain.  
  
It was set up like a wooden stage, with a canopy overhead, so that the rain did not fall down on the glass cases holding the more interesting and valuable pieces, which were going to be showcased in less than 15 minutes...  
  
"Hm..." Yami Bakura muttered, watching Taerro slip under the curtain, unnoticed by the rest of the crowd. "There must be something of the evil's interest in one of these cases."  
  
Yami Bakura looked around, checking to see if anyone in the crowd was watching him. No, they were all too busy chatting, complaining about the wait and the rain, and checking their watches eagerly.  
  
Yami Bakura grinned, and slipped under the curtain as well, and onto the wooden stage, where he saw Yami Taerro bending over a certain case.  
  
"You cannot escape a fight now, spirit," Yami Bakura said accusingly, his Millennium Ring glowing. "Come on!"  
  
Yami Taerro chuckled and turned around.  
  
"You dare to challenge me, after the fate you suffered last time?" Yami Taerro muttered, knowing Yami Bakura had witnessed his draining of the White Dragon.  
  
Yami Bakura grinned.  
  
"I want the power that you're after," he replied, his ring glowing brighter than ever. "Now prepare to fight, or I will take you down."  
  
Yami Taerro grinned.  
  
************  
  
End of Chapter 16  
  
Review please! ^_^ 


	17. Chapter 17: Victory and Defeat

Chapter 17: Victory and Defeat  
  
Notes: Title gives any clues as to what will happen? ^_~ It should.  
  
"Yes, but remember, you can't win 'em all. And though Yami Bakura is a good duelist, who says Yami Taerro's going to agree to a duel? ^_~"  
  
Ah...only too true in the gang's case. ; Well, here's Chapter 17! And thanks for reading and reviewing the previous chapters!  
  
**********  
  
Chapter 17: Victory and Defeat  
  
Yugi, Tea, Shadi and Joey ran into the festival, where the paths were pretty much empty and most of the booth abandoned due to the storm. Hardly anyone was left.  
  
"Where could they have gone?" Tea asked, nervously.  
  
"You don't think they left us behind, do you?!" Joey exclaimed, nervously.  
  
Tea narrowed her eyes.  
  
"You don't think they would...do you Yugi?" Tea asked, when suddenly, Shadi gasped.  
  
"The evil approaches," he announced, looking straight forward.  
  
Yugi, Tea, and Joey all followed his gaze, curiously, as Duke and Mr. Zaliki ran around the corner, closely followed by Amber.  
  
"Amber!" Tea cried, seeing her evil look. "What's happened to her?!" she demanded, turning to Shadi.  
  
"Yeah! She's our friend!" Yugi added.  
  
Shadi nodded his head in the same direction, and Yugi saw Jim, still holding the Millennium Key, walking around the corner, a gleeful grin on his face.  
  
"It's Jim!" Joey cried, pointing ahead.  
  
"And he's using the power of the key to control Amber!" Yugi gasped, realizing Jim must have found out how to redecorate a soul room.  
  
Shadi shook his head sadly.  
  
"This is terrible," he muttered. "We must get the key away from him!"  
  
  
  
"Duke!" Yugi yelled, pointing to Duke, who was trying to get a hold of Amber again. "Duke! Get the key away from Jim, and have Amber touch it! She'll go back to normal then!"  
  
Duke's eyes widened as Amber hit him again, this time across the other cheek, causing him to wince in the rain.  
  
"Ok!" Duke called back to Yugi, who was running forward, to distract Amber.  
  
Jim, who was having to much fun watching Amber beat up her friends, didn't notice Duke sneak up behind him, and only realized that Duke was behind him when he was hit over the head with a fist.  
  
"Serves you right," Duke muttered, prying the key out of Jim's lifeless hands and running over to where Shadi, Yugi, and Joey were trying to fend off Amber.  
  
"Hurry!" Yugi yelled, as Amber grabbed Yugi's chain of the puzzle and yanked him to her.  
  
"Lay off!" Joey yelled, punching Amber and causing her to fall over.  
  
Tea's eyes widened.  
  
"Joey..." she muttered accusingly as Duke ran over to Amber, who was getting up again, ready to fight.  
  
"Wake up, Amber!" Duke yelled, pressing the key into her hands.  
  
There was a spark of gold light, and when it faded, Amber's eyes had faded back to their normal state, full of her cheerful spark. She blinked, and looked around.  
  
"Duke?" she muttered weakly, looking up at her friend, who was smiling, glad the key had returned her to normal. "What...what happened?"  
  
She bit her lip as she looked down at the Millennium Key in her hands, throwing it aside nervously.  
  
"What's going on?" she asked, fearfully, looking at him pleadingly.  
  
"Nothing," Duke replied gently, putting a hand on her shoulder. "Everything's fine."  
  
Amber looked at the cuts on Duke's arm and his red cheek, from where she had slapped him. Then, she swallowed.  
  
"Did...did I do this?" she asked, eyes wide.  
  
Duke swallowed, and nodded.  
  
"But it wasn't your fault, you were under someone else's control," Duke added quickly, as Yugi bent down to pick up the Millennium Key and Joey walked over to Mr. Zaliki.  
  
"Do you know what's going on here?" Joey asked, raising an eyebrow.  
  
Mr. Zaliki sighed, and looked at his ruined suit.  
  
"I have no idea," he replied, irritated.  
  
Amber's lip quivered.  
  
"I'm sorry..." she muttered, embarrassed and sadly.  
  
"No, no it wasn't your fault," Duke replied, smiling. "Look, everything's fine now."  
  
Amber, gratefully for Duke's words, threw her arms around his neck and hugged him.  
  
"Thanks Duke..." she whispered, not caring that Yugi, Joey, Tea, Mr. Zaliki, and Shadi were all watching, more or less.  
  
Yugi held out the Millennium Key to Shadi.  
  
"Your Millennium Item," Yugi said, handing it to him with a smile. "Here you go."  
  
Shadi took the golden ankh and put it back around his neck.  
  
"Thank you," he replied, closing his eyes as his powers were restored to him. "Hm...it appears that there are several other threats lurking nearby...clouding around both your friends, and near my sister!"  
  
Yugi's eyebrows went up in shock.  
  
"Really?" he asked, looking in Shadi's direction. "That way?" he inquired, pointing to where the crowd had gathered in the distance.  
  
Shadi nodded.  
  
"Yes," he replied, starting to walk forward. "We must go!"  
  
Amber let go of Duke and the two stood up.  
  
"Where are we going?" Amber asked, getting a grip on herself once more.  
  
"To find out what these other evils are up to!" Yugi declared, and the group, even Mr. Zaliki and Joey, both of whom were quite lost as to what was happening, took off for the crowd.  
  
Mr. Zaliki, after a moment, turned around and looked at Jim, who was still unconscious on the floor. Hurrying over, he tied his hands with a bit of rope from a booth, and then pulled out his cell-phone.  
  
"Magic or not, this man is definitely not a law-abider in my book," he grumbled to himself as the cell-phone rang.  
  
************  
  
Seto, meanwhile, was continuing his fight against Stella's thugs, although he wasn't do so well anymore. After having the upper-hand for a few minutes, he'd now fallen behind, and was on the defensive, one after another launching endless attacks at him.  
  
As he managed to flip one over, another hit him in his already bruised chest, causing his to gasp, and fall to his knees clutching his chest.  
  
"What am I going to do?" he thought to himself. "Am I...not good enough? Am I going to quit here and let Mokuba down?"  
  
He gritted his teeth and jumped backwards, just in time to escape a heavy attack aimed at him by one of the men.  
  
"No way," he said aloud, his fighting spirit revived. "No matter what, I'm not losing."  
  
***********  
  
Yami Taerro laughed as Yami Bakura walked closer.  
  
"What are you laughing about, you poor excuse for a evil spirit," Yami Bakura spat, irritated by his opponent's cocky attitude.  
  
Yami Taerro grinned and put his hands together, a blue and purple substance forming between them.  
  
"I don't have time to play with you right now, thief," Yami Taerro hissed, the blue and purple substance growing larger. "I have a medallion to collect. But when we finally do confront each other again, it is I who will emerge victorious."  
  
He laughed evilly as he shot the substance out at Yami Bakura, which caused him to fly back, ripping through the curtains and landing in the middle of the crowd.  
  
Quickly, while the crowd was distracted by the sudden appearance of Bakura, he smashed the class case to the medallion, and grasped it in his hand. Then, he ran off, no one ever seeing him take the prized antique jewel away.  
  
************  
  
When Bakura opened his eyes, he was lying on his back in the middle of a large crowd, and rain was pouring down on them all. He raised his hand up to shield his eyes from the rain.  
  
  
  
"Wha...what's going on?" Bakura asked, squinting up at everyone.  
  
"Are you okay kid?" Someone asked, looking concerned.  
  
"What were you doing back there? Playing with rockets or something?" One man joked, but was immediately silenced by his wife's glare.  
  
"Let me through," Came a familiar voice, as a woman fought her way through the crowd and over to Bakura as he sat up, rubbing his back.  
  
"Are you all right?" Madam Christina asked, kneeling down next to him, looking worried.  
  
Bakura blinked.  
  
"I'm...I'm fine...just my back's a little soar..." he mumbled, looking around, confused. (Yami Bakura, yet again, let normal Bakura take over in an odd situation such as this, without filling him in on what happened first.)  
  
"What happened?" he asked, looking up at Madam Christina as he stood up, shakily.  
  
"You just flew right out through the curtains of the stage," One kid said, pointing to the ripped curtains and exposed stage. "Like someone pushed you out or something!"  
  
Bakura blinked.  
  
"Oh my," he said, more confused than ever, but not wanting to worry everyone by saying that he couldn't remember the experience at all. "That...that was terrible."  
  
"What happened?" One man inquired eagerly, leaning forward.  
  
"I...I..." Bakura stammered, but at that moment, Yugi and the others arrived, pushing their way through the crowd.  
  
"What's going on?" Yugi's voice asked, as he fought his way through the crowd to the center.  
  
"Yeah!" Joey's voice agreed. "Pardon me!" he yelled, and there was an indignant cry from a woman.  
  
"Why I never...!"  
  
"Bakura!" Yugi cried, running over to his friend, who was still rubbing his back tenderly. "Are you okay? We saw you fall!"  
  
Bakura smiled meekly.  
  
"Yeah...I'm okay, Yugi," he replied, looking around. "Although..."  
  
  
  
Yugi and Yami both stared at their friend. Bakura seemed dazed again...like Yami Bakura had just handed him back control.  
  
"Yami, do you think..." Yugi began, and Yami nodded.  
  
"Yes...I believe the evil spirit of the Millennium Ring had something to do with this," Yami replied, his eyes wandering over to the stage, and widening at the broken glass.  
  
"Yugi!" he gasped, but Yami was interrupted by a cry from Madam Christina.  
  
"Shadi!" she cried, running over to her brother, who had just managed to make his way through the crowd with Joey, Amber, and Duke behind him.  
  
"Christina," he replied, acknowledging her.  
  
  
  
"How did you get free?" she asked eagerly, quit pleased to see her brother safe, and free from the clutches of the group.  
  
Shadi nodded toward Yugi and Tea, both of whom were talking to Bakura, trying to find out exactly what had happened, while Yami was examining the broken case up on the stage.  
  
"That boy and girl found me," Shadi replied. "And they helped retrieve the Millennium Key."  
  
Amber slumped down at little at the mention of the Millennium Key, but Duke patted her shoulder supportively. Madam Christian turned to Yugi and Tea, her eyes shining.  
  
"Oh thank you," she said gratefully, most of the crowd having gone up to admire the artifacts while a frantic tour-guide was running from case to case, making sure everything was alright. "How can I ever repay you?"  
  
Yugi grinned embarrassedly, and put his hand behind his head, turning slightly pink.  
  
"Oh, there's no need. We were just trying to help out, and besides," he replied. "You helped us out when we were broken-down in the rain, after all."  
  
Madam Christina smiled, but their conversation was interrupted by a scream from the stage. Everyone turned their heads to see what the problem was as the tour-guide spun around, looking horrified.  
  
"One of the items has been stolen!" she cried, causing panic to waver through the anxious crowd.  
  
Yugi's heart sank as the tour-guide looked at what it was supposed to have been held in the case that was now shattered.  
  
"A medallion has been stolen!" she repeated, causing everyone in Yugi's group to gasp.  
  
Madam Christina's eyes were wide as she turned to Shadi.  
  
"No..." she whispered, looking up at her brother, who was equally as disturbed by the woman's announcement.  
  
"Evil hands have taken the medallion, and soon...will unleash its powers," Shadi said, in what Yami took as a warning. "This new enemy...will strike again."  
  
Madam Christina's eyes filled with horror, as did Tea's and Yugi's.  
  
"Who could have taken it?" Yugi wondered to himself, looking at Bakura, but he was already checking his pockets for himself.  
  
He didn't have the medallion. Yugi looked around for his spiritual partner, but unfortunately, he could not find him.  
  
"Yami?" Yugi asked, looking around, to no avail. "Yami! Where did you go?!"  
  
************  
  
Meanwhile, the rain continued to fall as the last thug fell to the ground, unconscious. Seto, bruised, cut, and breathing heavily, however, was still standing.  
  
  
  
He glared over at Stella, who was backing away, slightly frightened by Seto's sudden burst of energy.  
  
"I...I don't understand," she muttered, staring wide-eyed at him. "How could you have defeated all those men?"  
  
Seto took a deep breath, trying to stay focused.  
  
"Because...because I have people...I'm fighting for," Seto replied, swallowing. "Now...you're finished, and soon are going to find yourself behind bars."  
  
Stella narrowed her eyes angrily and turned to ran away, knowing that in his condition, Seto would never be able to catch up to her. She could escape and start over again...  
  
  
  
As she turned to run, however, a blue light flashed in front of her, and a figure appeared.  
  
"I do not think you should be going anywhere," Thoth announced, waving his hand in front of her, and blue bonds pulled her arms and legs together, causing her to loose her balance and fall over.  
  
"What are you?" she cried, both frightened and angry at the same time.  
  
Thoth ignored her comment and looked over at Seto, who was stumbling forward, apparently injured. He looked up at Thoth, who he saw only as a blueish-green blur.  
  
"Well done," Thoth commented, surprising himself.  
  
Normally, he did not even speak to humans, let alone compliment them, but indeed, that battle had been quite something.  
  
However, Seto didn't reply. Instead, he fainted.  
  
*************  
  
End of Chapter 17  
  
Last Chapter up soon! Review Please!!! 


	18. Chapter 18: Complexity

Chapter 18: Complexity  
  
Note: Thanks for all the reviews, everyone! And I hope you've enjoyed this story. My next story has already been started. Be sure to read that one when you finish! ^_~  
  
"Anyway, here we go with the end of the story. ^_^ I have to say, I really like the way this one turned out."  
  
Oh, and always, (or almost always) there's a clue to the next Fan-Fic in this last chapter. Well, really microscopic clue I guess. Just the mention of the character's name I suppose. Of course, if you don't want to bother looking for the clue, just read the next story. :P  
  
"Here we go!"  
  
***********  
  
Chapter 18: Complexity  
  
Yami floated through the now calming storm, looking for any sign of the thief who could have taken the medallion that Shadi claimed held such evil powers.  
  
"Was it the criminal group...or someone else?" he thought to himself, not knowing Mr. Zaliki, Seto, and Thoth had pretty much gotten rid of most of the group. "It must have been someone else...or else how could they have blasted Bakura with such a magical spell?"  
  
Yami narrowed his eyes, slowly realizing who had taken the medallion.  
  
"Taerro must have done it," he thought to himself. "Or rather, the evil Taerro."  
  
  
  
***********  
  
Meanwhile, the rest of the crowd had vanished from the festival, the rain, the police officers and the stolen medallion all scaring them away.  
  
Madam Christina was sitting at a bench, talking sadly to Shadi, while Amber, Duke, and Tea decided to go look for Mokuba and Seto. Joey was going off to find Tristan and his father, and Yugi was looking around for any sign of Yami.  
  
"Yami?" Yugi called, cupping his hands up to his mouth, hoping his friend would hear him.  
  
It wasn't like Yami to wander off, and Yugi was beginning to worry. He narrowed his eyebrows sadly.  
  
"Yami, where are you?" he wondered, running off toward the woods again.  
  
**********  
  
Meanwhile, Bastet was slinking down the paths of the now empty fairgrounds, searching for the Vampire spirit. She had sensed his magic again, this time stronger than ever.  
  
"Mokuba?" Came a voice suddenly, that Bastet recognized.  
  
"That girl..." she muttered, cocking her head as Tea, Amber, and Duke walked around the corner, apparently looking for someone.  
  
Tea's eyes widened and she froze as she saw Bastet.  
  
"Bastet..." she muttered to herself, feeling awkward.  
  
She hadn't spoken to nor seen Bastet since Bastet took off that evening after the battle with Kiroi Kyoofu, without telling Tea first. Even now, Tea felt silly for feeling bad about that, but she couldn't help herself.  
  
She'd felt as though she and Bastet were...friends. But that incident crushed her, and made her think that perhaps a goddess such as Bastet didn't need friends.  
  
"Hey, it's a black cat!" Duke exclaimed, pointing to Bastet.   
  
He and Amber had both only seen Bastet from a distance, or in Amber's case, from the window. They didn't recognize her.  
  
  
  
"It's...it's..." Tea stammered as Bastet stared at her, unblinkingly.  
  
She shook her head and smiled.  
  
"I think I know her from somewhere," Tea said, walking forward as she looked back at Amber and Duke. "You two see if you can't find Kaiba and his brother and I'll catch up to you later, ok?"  
  
Amber raised her eyebrow at Tea, but Duke shrugged.  
  
"Okay, Tea," Duke replied, he and Amber walking away. "Don't stay too long. I bet as soon as Zaliki catches up to us, he'll want to leave, pronto."  
  
Amber rolled her eyes and chuckled as they walked away. As soon as they were out of earshot, Tea stared down at Bastet, unsure of what to say.  
  
  
  
"Bastet..." she finally said, softly. "Um...it's been a while."  
  
"A week, in mortal time," Bastet replied calmly.  
  
Bastet's calmness made Tea feel even stranger.  
  
"Er...where have you been?" Tea inquired, moving her fingers back and forth nervously behind her back.  
  
Bastet blinked.  
  
"I've gone back home," she replied. "Certainly the priest told you."  
  
  
  
Tea nodded slowly.  
  
"That's right...he did," she replied slowly, wondering why she was calling Seto a priest. He had told her, after all. "But..."  
  
"But?"  
  
Tea swallowed.  
  
"But what didn't you just tell me yourself? I mean, I was kinda worried about you until Kaiba told me where you'd gone," Tea blurted out.  
  
Bastet sighed.  
  
"Was there a need to? We usually just come and go where I live," Bastet replied, narrowing her eyes in confusion. "I never even bother telling anyone when I go out. If they want to know, they ask before I leave."  
  
Tea sighed now.  
  
"I guess I've been kind of silly, but I really sort of felt hurt that you didn't tell me you were leaving. It was kind of like if one of my friends decided to leave forever and never told me a thing," she explained. "You never said if you'd be back or anything."  
  
  
  
Bastet paused for a moment, letting Tea's words soak in.  
  
"Well," she began slowly, her voice slightly icy. "If you like, I will inform you personally next time I decide to leave."  
  
Tea smiled a half-smile, but what else was she supposed to expect from Bastet? She didn't know.  
  
"Thanks," she said, looking around. "I'm going to go catch up with Amber and Duke. Do you want to come?"  
  
Bastet shook her head.  
  
"I am looking for the boy you call Taerro," she said solemnly. "He is possessed by an evil man from the past whose soul is part that of a Vampire Lord Ka."  
  
Tea's eyes widened in shock.  
  
  
  
"T...Taerro is possessed again?!" she cried, bending down and looking into Bastet's eyes. "Was he after anything?"  
  
Bastet nodded.  
  
"He seemed to be," she replied simply.  
  
Tea gasped, looking away from Bastet and back at the stage where the medallion had been stolen.  
  
"Well then...I think that he may have just stolen a medallion with special powers," Tea said shakily, looking back down at the cat.  
  
Bastet hissed angrily.  
  
"Drat it," she muttered, pouncing off. "I will be back shortly," she yelled back at Tea, not wanting her to get upset again.  
  
***********  
  
Mokuba and Priest Seto walked down the muddy path, side by side.  
  
"I wonder where niisama is," Mokuba thought out-loud.  
  
Priest Seto sighed.  
  
"So do I..." he muttered, thinking about Yami Taerro instead.  
  
How was he going to convince Seto to use the Millennium Rod? Or even except its abilities?  
  
Suddenly, Mokuba gasped as he looked ahead.  
  
"Niisama!" he cried, running forward and down a narrow alley to where Seto was lying on the ground.  
  
Priest Seto's eyes widened as he floated after Mokuba.  
  
"Niisama?" Mokuba cried, shaking Seto back and forth. "Wake up!"  
  
"You will hurt the mortal more that way," Came a misty voice.  
  
Priest Seto turned around sharply, sensing someone else in the area, and came face to face with Thoth.  
  
"Thoth!" Priest Seto cried, stunned.  
  
What was he doing here?  
  
"Niisama!" Mokuba called again, and Seto moaned, blinking and looking up at his younger brother.  
  
"Mokuba...?" he asked, confused, sitting up slowly. "What's going on?"  
  
Mokuba didn't reply. Instead, he hugged his brother tightly, causing Seto wince in pain. Mokuba noticed this time and drew back, looking apologetically up at his older brother.  
  
"Sorry, niisama," he apologized, looking worriedly up at him. "But what happened to you?"  
  
"I..." Seto muttered, looking around and remembering what had happened. "I just had a fight with some of Stella's thugs."  
  
Mokuba gave a frightened cry.  
  
"You did?!" he cried.  
  
Seto nodded.  
  
"Yeah, but I'm fine," he replied, trying to stand up again.  
  
Thoth waved his hand down at Stella. She growled angrily, as she tried to fight against the blue bonds.  
  
"And the fugitive has been caught," he explained to them. "I suppose she will be dealt with properly now?"  
  
Seto forced a small laugh as he got to his feet, Mokuba watching him, concerned.  
  
"If by that you mean going to jail, then yes," he replied, looking up at Thoth.  
  
Thoth shrugged, and disappeared, leaving Priest Seto completely confused. He turned to look at Seto and Mokuba.  
  
"What happened here?" he asked curiously and Seto sighed wearily. "And when did Thoth come into play?  
  
"Nothing really happened," he replied simply, pulling his sleeve down over a cut on his arm. "Just consider the crime organization closed."  
  
Mokuba grinned and hugged his brother again, more gently this time.  
  
"Yep!" he agreed.  
  
************  
  
It took a while to round everyone up, and board the bus once more, but an hour later, everyone found themselves back at Madam Christina's mansion, in dry clothes, and sitting in the living room around the fireplace.  
  
Stella, Jim, and the whole crew of thugs that had been after Madam Christina's artifacts and stalking Seto, Yugi, and the rest of the gang for a while had been arrested and put directly in jail.  
  
Their hideout was being inspected, and the authorities assured the gang that the treasures that had been stolen would be returned to their proper owners.  
  
Now, Madam Christina, although unhappy she had lost the medallion, was more cheerful now that her brother was safe and sound, and was making tea and hot chocolate in the kitchen with Tea.  
  
Amber and Duke were now playing dominos on the floor, Amber having finished attempting to patch Seto up once again. (Seto, again, was not pleased with her help.)  
  
Shadi was talking to his sister in the kitchen, trying not to sound as though he was worried about the medallion. In fact, he tried not to bring it up. He knew that they would have to deal with their new enemy in the end, but did he really need to worry Christina about it?  
  
Bastet was curled up in the corner of the room, sleeping soundly. She'd decided to stick around for a bit, as sort of an apology to Tea. Thoth, however, had gone back home, not wanting to leave Anubis alone too long to scheme.  
  
Mr. Taylor, Joey, and Tristan were all talking as they watched the flames flicker in the fireplace while Yugi said quietly, looking expectantly at the door for Yami's return.  
  
Even if Yami's just a spirit, Yugi thought to himself, I'd still feel better if he were home already.  
  
Seto was sitting silently as well, mainly just because he was tired, and also because Mokuba had fallen asleep on his shoulder. Priest Seto, unseen by most of the group, was hovering around near Yugi and Seto, thinking about the day's events.  
  
A moment later, to Yugi's relief, Yami floated in through the door, looking quite discouraged.  
  
"Yami!" Yugi cried, running over to his partner, startling everyone who couldn't see him. "Where were you?" he asked eagerly.  
  
Yami sighed.  
  
"I was trying to track down the thief," he sighed. "To no avail. I believe Yami Taerro has escaped us once again."  
  
Yugi's eyes widened.  
  
"Taerro's evil side is back?" he thought to Yami.  
  
Yami nodded solemnly.  
  
"Yes, unfortunately, that is what everything seems to lead too," he replied with a sigh.  
  
Yugi sighed as well as he looked around at the others. Bakura was walking downstairs, squeezing water out of his long white hair, looking quite normal, thankfully. (One evil spirit was enough, Yugi thought)  
  
Priest Seto, overhearing their conversation, narrowed his eyes.  
  
"Pharaoh," he thought to himself, seriously. "This is no ordinary evil spirit..."  
  
Seto looked over at Priest Seto.  
  
"Priest," he said, addressing him, causing him to turn around, raising an eyebrow.  
  
"Yes?" Priest Seto replied, cautiously.  
  
Seto heaved a sigh.  
  
"I just wanted to thank you for saving Mokuba," he said, his voice emotionless. "He told me what happened while you two were looking for me."  
  
Priest Seto hid a smile.  
  
"Oh he did?" he asked curiously. "Well, it was nothing."  
  
Seto laughed inside his mind. It was funny to talk to someone so similar to himself. He sighed and put an arm around Mokuba's shoulder, just glad that they were safe again.  
  
"Hey Yug!" Joey called from the couch, patting the empty seat next to him. "Come on and take a seat, now that Yami's back, you can relax!"  
  
Yugi smiled and hurried over to his friends.  
  
"Yeah...thanks Joey," he replied with a grin.  
  
Joey winked.  
  
"Aw...don't mention it. I mean, after a day like today, I think we could all use a looong vacation," Joey sighed, Tristan and Bakura nodding in agreement.  
  
Mr. Zaliki, who had just entered the room, narrowed his eyes.  
  
"Well, don't expect to get one," he remarked, sitting down in a blue chair across the room, causing Joey's dream-bubble to burst. "School will be in session Monday morning as always."  
  
"Thanksss a lot, teach," Joey muttered, falling off the couch.  
  
Mr. Taylor, Tristan, Bakura, and Yugi laughed as Madam Christian and Tea walked into the room with trays of steaming mugs.  
  
"Ready for drinks anyone?" Tea asked cheerfully, setting her tray down on the table and then promptly blowing on her hands to cool off.  
  
Yugi smiled.  
  
"Yeah," he said, taking a cup of hot chocolate. "Thanks Madam Christina, Tea."  
  
"Not at all dear," Madam Christina replied, taking a cup of tea for herself and another for her brother.  
  
Seto, who wasn't in the mood for anything to drink, merely watched the others. Amber and Duke went back to their "game" area, where they'd spread out a dungeon dice mat, after grabbing their mugs and setting them gingerly on the ground, so not to spill.  
  
"Hey Amber, can you tell me what the instructions say about summoning monsters?" Duke asked slyly with a small smile.  
  
Amber grinned mischievously and picked up the set of paper instructions. She flipped over to the front page and scanned the Japanese characters.  
  
"Yep," she said happily. "You place them on the star of the dungeon piece you've chosen when you roll 2 or more matching summoning crests."  
  
Duke grinned.  
  
Amber's getting good at this...he thought to himself.  
  
Madam Christina walked over to Shadi and handed out the cup.  
  
"Did you want something to drink?" she asked with a smile.  
  
Shadi sighed. He was concerned about the medallion, but what was the point in worrying about it now?  
  
"Thank you," he replied, taking the mug from his sister.  
  
"It's so good to be back together again," Madam Christina remarked as Yugi and his friends cheerfully took mugs off the tray and handed them around. "And tea and hot chocolate never taste as good as they does on a rainy day."  
  
Yami overheard her, and smiled.  
  
"True," he thought to himself. "As goes for the present situation. During times of trouble, friends are more appreciated than ever."  
  
Yes, there were dangers ahead, but they would all face them with courage and hope, and hopefully, they would emerge victorious. TOGETHER, they would be victorious.  
  
And he watched as Yugi's friends, Madam Christina, Shadi, Mr. Zaliki, and Priest Seto, Seto, and Mokuba enjoyed their drinks, the peacefulness, and the carefree mood of the evening.  
  
*************  
  
END OF STORY  
  
What did you think? ^_^ Really leads into the sequel which is called... "Darkness is a Jackal's Eye"  
  
I've already got Chapter one of the story up. Just click on my profile an you should see it on my list of stories. ^^  
  
"Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoyed it. ^_~" 


End file.
